Strangers in the Hospital
by FictionWriter91
Summary: In 2006, Emily is hit by a car and winds up in the hospital where she meets a man known by the name Christmas, and at first they don't hit it off, but they know they'll never see each other again. In 2009, they meet again, and this time, Emily becomes a target. Lee is assigned as her bodyguard, and they have to find a way to get along while meshing their worlds of guns and fashion.
1. Chapter 1

**Of course I'm back with another story about Jason Statham and Emily Blunt characters. I just love writing about them. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this story. It is another crossover with the Expendables.**

**A small scene of violence is in this chapter.**

* * *

**2006 **

"Ow, ow, ow," Emily was moaning as they finished getting her leg into the cast. A nurse was at her left eye, applying a small bandage. Emily felt like she had been hit by a mack truck instead of just a cab. She hissed in pain when the nurse finished over her eye.

"All set," Dr. Hess smiled at her. She gave a weak smile back.

"When can I go back to work?" she asked. Dr. Hess gave her a surprised look.

"Back to work?" he repeated.

"Yes. My job is very important you know," she added. Miranda would not be pleased if Emily couldn't work. She dreaded that conversation.

"I would recommend at least a week, maybe two, of rest before going back to work. You just had a traumatic experience..." Dr. Hess trailed off. Emily looked at him with a deadpan stare.

"Then I would lose my job," she said flatly.

"Well...a few days at least?" he suggested.

"One day," Emily negotiated.

"Three days," Dr. Hess urged.

"Two. That's my final offer," Emily said firmly.

"Look, lady, I'm pretty sure your boss will let you have some time off," the man beside her said gruffly. Emily glared at the curtain that separated her from the man who just spoke.

"Excuse me?" she asked, annoyed.

"Ahem, ultimately it's up to you, but I am writing you a note giving you a week off at least," Dr. Hess said hurriedly.

"I won't need it," Emily insisted. Dr. Hess put it in her file anyway.

"I must say, your injury could have been a lot worse. I am a bit curious, though. Are you eating properly?"

Emily felt a jolt inside at this. Was it that noticeable? Dr. Hess was giving her a concerned yet caring look, but she didn't want to admit that she had not been eating properly for a while now. She couldn't remember exactly when that started.

"Of course," she said stiffly. She knew he didn't believe her, but he let it go and gave her a nod before leaving quickly. Emily rested her head back and sighed. Bloody hell anyway.

"We'll be moving you to a private room soon," the nurse promised her. Emily just nodded. She felt unnerved being in an emergency room. She hated hospitals. Too much pain, fear, and loss.

Sudden groaning beside her made her jump and look at the curtain.

"Almost finished, Mr. Christmas," a voice said.

"I could use a stiff drink right now," came the reply. There were some chuckles and then a little more groaning.

"Okay, so I've determined you've got at least one broken rib on top of the other injuries," the second voice said. Emily assumed this was the doctor.

"Swell," the first voice commented. It had a British accent she realized. She hadn't noticed earlier.

"May I ask how these injuries happened?"

"I got jumped."

"Oh dear. Have you...?"

"There's no point in calling the police. I didn't get to see what they looked like."

"But..."

"It's fine."

Emily furrowed her brow, listening to this conversation. Who wouldn't call the police after being assaulted?

"All right. I'm prescribing you some T-3s and bed rest. It takes a while for broken ribs to heal. No sports or any activities that could cause further injury, understood?"

"Yea."

"We're going to monitor you overnight for any internal bleeding. You'll be free to leave after tomorrow."

"Thanks."

There was silence then, and Emily assumed the staff had left. She jumped in fright again when the curtain was moved back quickly by a nurse. Emily caught sight of a man sitting upright with bruises all over his torso, a few scratches and a bruise on his face, and what looked like gauze on his right wrist. He had a ruggedness to him but also a kind of hardness, but the hardness did not reach his eyes. Emily also noticed a cut on his closely shaved head. He looked like someone who had been dropped ten stories and then run over by a bus. He looked like absolute crap.

"What?" he asked, catching her looking at him.

Emily whipped her head back in the other direction, not answering. She felt a bit embarrassed for having been caught staring. She saw him get settled onto the pillows on his bed in her peripheral vision. She was about to close her own eyes when she had to stop herself from shrieking out loud in fright.

A chiseled looking older Italian man had appeared from nowhere, and he also suffered injuries to his face and arms. Emily stared in horror as this man came closer to her bed. Was he going to attack her?!

"What are you doing here?" the man beside her asked. The older man went to stand next to his bed, oblivious to Emily.

"Just checking in on you. Is that not allowed?"

"You might get admitted yourself looking like that," the first man said. She remembered the doctor calling him Mr. Christmas. Emily was fairly certain it was a fake last name. Who actually had a last name of Christmas?

"What did they say?"

"I've got a broken rib. They stitched up where the knife got me on my wrist. They want to make sure I don't have internal bleeding."

"Well, you were knocked out."

"Not my first head injury...probably won't be my last," Christmas chuckled. "And I wasn't knocked out that long."

Emily couldn't believe how casually they were talking about getting stabbed and hitting their heads. Who were these guys?

"He got away," the older man said, lowering his voice.

"What?"

Emily felt the hairs on her arm stand up. Who got away? Why did it sound serious?

"Toll is still beating himself up for missing the shot."

"It was chaos. He can't blame himself. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I had him right in front of me."

"We'll have to just try again," the older man sighed.

"Hello?!" Serena called, coming into view then. She hurried over to Emily's bedside after seeing her. "Oh my God! I can't believe this! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine," Emily answered. She couldn't help but notice the two men were looking at her now. She cringed inside.

"You just got hit by a bloody _car_! You could have _died_!"

Emily did not miss the snicker from the older man. She shot a glare his way, and he just gave a twisted smile back in return. She guessed they probably got hit by cars all the time since they seemed to have everything else done to them.

"Don't be so dramatic," Emily hissed at Serena. "I'm fine." For whatever reason, she wanted to appear tough to these two men whom she didn't even know.

"Andy is going crazy," Serena said to her without missing a beat. "She's been nuts all morning. I think she's coming here to talk to you."

"Oh God, what for?" Emily asked. She vaguely remembered Andy was trying to tell her something on the phone right before she got hit by the car.

"I don't know. It seems serious. Miranda didn't even ask if you were okay," Serena went on. "I mean, I know she doesn't give a shit about people, but you almost..."

"Enough with the almost dying," Emily snapped, holding up her hand to cut Serena off. "And I don't care what Miranda thinks."

"You're going to take some time off work, right?" Serena asked.

"No! I have a lot of work to do."

"You're right. Miranda might fire you if you don't come in right away," Serena agreed.

"All right, I have to ask," Christmas interrupted, making both Emily and Serena look at him. "What kind of job do you have that requires you to be there right after a, erm, near death experience?"

Emily bristled at the hint of sarcasm near the end.

"None of your business," she said back coldly.

"Must be a surgeon then," the older man said to Christmas.

"Maybe a lawyer?"

"Oohh a detective."

"Shut up," Emily barked. Serena stood to close the curtain, but Emily caught Christmas looking at her with a slight smirk on his face before it was hidden by the curtain.

"Who is that?" Serena whispered.

"No idea."

"I can still hear you," Christmas said. "The curtain isn't a magic curtain, you know. Sound still goes through it."

"Wow," Serena mouthed, eyes wide. "He's surly."

"Ready for your room?" the nurse asked, standing at the end of her bed.

"Yes, please," Emily answered, relieved. She hoped she would never see that Christmas man ever again.

...

"She sure was spicy," Barney commented after the woman had been taken away. Lee snorted.

"I think you hurt her feelings," he joked.

"Me? You made fun of her near death experience."

"Did not."

"In a way, yes you did."

"Whatever. I'll never see her again, so it doesn't matter," Lee said. He tried to not think about the woman, but for some reason, she was stuck in his mind. He was curious about what had happened that led to her getting hit by a car.

"All right. I'll get out of here before I'm admitted," Barney chuckled. "We'll come get you tomorrow. Stay sharp."

"Sounds good," Lee nodded. Barney gave him a pat on the shoulder before leaving. Lee was surprised that Barney had even insisted that he come to the hospital to begin with. It usually led to questions they preferred not to answer. He had, however, taken quite the beating, so perhaps Barney was just being extra cautious. Then again, he'd just told him to "stay sharp." Something was up. Lee had an idea as to what.

"Your room is ready," his nurse said a few moments later, smiling at him. He smiled back.

"Perfect."

...

Lee was trying to sleep when he heard the shout.

"I don't care if she was going to beat you with a hot poker, you should have said no!"

He opened his eyes, frowning. That voice was familiar. He turned his head to look out the door and across the hall. He could see the end of a hospital bed, a dark haired woman sitting on the window sill looking at the person in the bed, and a leg in a cast on the bed itself.

"Oh come on," he muttered. What were the odds that he'd get put across the hall from Spicy Girl from the emergency room?

"I had no choice," the dark haired woman was saying. Her face looked pained.

"You did have a choice, Andy. You did."

"I'm sorry..."

"It's so unfair! I've been starving myself for weeks in preparation for Paris, and you just swooped in and took it all away. You don't even like fashion. You eat carbs for crying out loud!"

Lee tuned out the rest of it. So the woman worked in fashion. That was the reason she couldn't miss a day of work. He chuckled to himself. It was beyond his understanding.

"I said go!"

He looked to see the dark haired woman rush out of the room looking as though she was about to burst into tears. He then could hear muffled crying coming from the room. He did his best to not pay attention to it. Eventually, he fell asleep.

...

"Okay, luv," Nurse Patricia said, coming into Emily's room. "We have your crutches here. Shall we have a go and try them out?"

"Do I have to?" Emily asked. It was late afternoon at this point. She was tired.

"We want to make sure you can use them properly before you leave."

"Fine," Emily grumbled. Patricia helped her sit on the edge of the bed and handed her each crutch one at a time.

"It's gonna be painful at first, especially since your arms aren't used to it," she told Emily. "With time, it gets better."

Emily got into a standing position, and Patricia gestured to the hallway.

"Walk up and down it a few times. Rest if you're tired. Keep practising for as long as you can, though, and start building up those arm muscles," Patricia smiled. Emily did not miss the concerned look the nurse gave the rest of Emily's body. Emily knew she was rather frail looking right now, but she felt fine. She hobbled out to the hallway and started down it. She managed to go down a few rooms and come back before feeling the pain and exhausted. She was panting and resting when she turned and caught sight of Christmas lying in his bed in the room across from hers.

"You gotta be kidding me," she said to herself. Of course he'd be right there. Thankfully, he was sleeping and didn't see her. She kept going up and down the hallway until her arms couldn't take it anymore. Then she went back to her bed. It took a bit, but she finally got in and comfortable. She couldn't rely on help because after all, she did live alone. Patricia brought her dinner, and she ate most of it. She was hungry, she discovered. She also didn't have to starve herself for a trip she was no longer going on. Miranda didn't even come to see her, which Emily knew better than to expect anyway. She spent the evening drifting in and out of sleep in between thinking.

...

Something woke her, but she wasn't sure what. She strained her eyes in the dark, trying to see from what little light there was from the hallway and from outside her window. A figure was standing at the end of her bed. For some reason, she felt in danger. She screamed.

...

Lee jolted awake to a scream. Disoriented, he sat up. He quickly remembered he was in the hospital when the pain from his broken rib hit him. He snapped his head to look in the direction of the scream. There was only the one scream. Feeling concerned, Lee got to his feet and made his way across the hall quickly. He walked into the room and could hear a voice roughly telling the woman to shut up. Lee jumped into action, moved forward, and yanked the man away from the woman while wrapping his arm around the man's throat tightly. He heard the man's knife clatter to the floor after he released it from surprise. The woman screamed again. Lee got elbowed in the ribs, making him shout in pain when his broken rib got hit. He kept his arm in place, though, since his training had him able to stay focused through anything, and the man slapped at his arms and tried to kick him in order to free himself. Lee was better, though, and soon the man was on the floor unconscious.

...

The lights were thrown on, and Emily saw Christmas standing there in visible pain over a man on the floor. She shuddered at the memory of the man's hand on her mouth and him telling her to shut up.

"What is going on in here?" Patricia demanded. Then she saw the man on the floor. "Oh my word!"

"It's all right," Christmas wheezed. Two men in police uniforms came in immediately after, and Emily was very intimidated by them. They were meaty and muscly, and their expressions were tight and hard.

"We got him, ma'am," the one said. They slapped a pair of handcuffs on the man and hoisted him up like he weighed nothing. Patricia followed them out.

"H-He had a knife," Emily stuttered. Christmas remembered she was there then, and he gave her a sympathetic look.

"He had the wrong room," he told her.

"W-What do you mean?"

Christmas clutched at himself then, his face changing as he fell to his knees and then onto his stomach.

"Oh my God, are you okay?!" Emily cried. She scrambled for her "help" button and pressed it. She then worked hard to get out of bed and fell ungracefully to the floor, pulling herself over to him. She wasn't sure why she was doing this, but the man did just save her life after all. She got to him and felt for a pulse in his neck.

"I'm...not...dead," he grunted.

"Good cos I can't find where your pulse is anyway," she said. She managed to turn him onto his back and looked down at him. Her leg was screaming at her from the position she was in. She was surprised when he grabbed her hand with his.

"Doctor..." he managed to say.

"I called for help. Where does it hurt?"

"Ribs."

Right. She remembered he had broken one.

"Hang on. Help is coming," she promised. She began to panic when Christmas started coughing up blood and choking. She went to scream for a doctor when one came hustling in.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"He saved me from an attacker, but he got hit in his broken rib I think," Emily explained. She slid away as the doctor took over. Nurses were there now too, helping to get Christmas up.

"He's probably nicked something then, which is causing the bleeding. Prep the OR!" the doctor shouted. They put Christmas onto a bed to wheel him to surgery. Emily felt scared for him. Patricia had returned at this point and saw her on the floor.

"Are you all right?" she asked, concerned.

"Yes. Can you help me up?" Emily countered. Patricia obliged and got her settled back into her bed. Emily's leg was throbbing from pain from all the action. She hoped it would settle down soon. A custodian had come to clean up the blood on the floor that Christmas had coughed up.

"That was quite the scare you had," Patricia said, visibly shaken herself. "I'm sure the police will get to the bottom of it."

"I hope so," Emily said absently. She was thinking about Christmas and whether or not he was going to be okay. She hoped he would be, even though she didn't even know him.

...

Lee opened his eyes to find Barney sitting beside him. He blinked and then winced when he felt the pain.

"Gave us a scare there," Barney noted.

"You used me as bait," Lee countered. He had figured that out the moment he saw the man unconscious on the floor while also remembering Barney telling him to stay sharp. It had been the same man that had given Lee the injuries earlier that day. That was why Barney wanted him in the hospital. He knew the man would come back to finish the job, and they could get him. The other give away was Gunner and Toll dressed as policemen to "arrest" the man so soon after it happened. They'd been lying in wait.

"Got the job done, didn't it?" Barney asked.

"I guess."

"Doc says you'll be a few more days in here recovering. Sorry about that."

Lee briefly wondered about the woman. He could still see her hovering above him, concern in her eyes.

"What day is it?" he asked.

"We are two days after the incident. You were in and out of it for a bit there after the surgery. You slept a lot."

Lee turned to look at the room across the hall. There was no movement in there.

"She's gone," Barney said, knowing that was what he was thinking. "She came by to make sure you were all right, though. Toll kept up the guise of policeman and asked her questions about it and all. He thinks she might still be suspicious about it, though."

Lee just nodded. He was sorry he'd missed her. He was also feeling a bit sorry that he'd never see her again. For some strange reason, he'd felt a connection with her despite their initial meeting.

"Rest up. We'll be outta here soon," Barney said. "I'm gonna go get something to eat."

"All right."

Lee tried to sleep after Barney was gone, but it was evading him. All he could think about was the woman. He regretted not even getting her name.

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**I'm just going to say first off that I am not a doctor, so if anything medical is incorrect in this chapter, please don't lecture me about it (I have been before even after I explained what I'm explaining to you right now). I use google for information and to make things as accurate as possible, and I'm assuming they'd get you to use the crutches before leaving the hospital with them. If I'm wrong, too bad lol. In this story, it happened. Anyway, the point of the story is not the medical stuff, it's about Lee and Emily's connection. I realize this might not even get read, but that's okay. I'm writing it for me.**

**If you feel like leaving a review, please do. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Some minor scenes of violence in this chapter.**

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**2009**

"Are we sure this is gonna work?" Toll Road asked as they waited for Barney. Lee felt stiff in his tux and tie, but it was necessary for the job. They were infiltrating an arms dealer who was making his deal while also hosting a gala type event in Paris.

"You're wearing the suit," Barney replied, knowing that was what it was really all about.

"I'm not a suit kind of guy," Toll insisted.

"You're telling me. My arms feel like they're gonna rip out of these sleeves," Gunner noted, looking at his biceps.

"I feel like James Bond," Hale Caesar noted, chuckling. "Just need that martini."

"It's no big deal," Yin commented. This was true. He usually wore a casual style of suit most of the time anyway.

"We have to be discreet and blend in," Barney said, finally joining them. He looked very sharp in his tuxedo. They all did really.

"I'd rather do it the regular way," Gunner said for all of them.

"Too bad. If we want to get this guy, we can't go charging in all black ops on him. And please keep in mind there are civilians here. Lots of them."

A chorus of "yups" and "got its" echoed back as Barney surveyed his team. Gunner indeed look like he was going to burst out of his suit. He was a tall, bulky armed Swede after all. Caesar himself was looking tight in the arms too. He had chosen a white suit instead as he had complained about blending in with his own black suit earlier. Barney felt like they were worse than a bunch of women, definitely pickier. He shook his head, a smirk on his lips.

"Guns are in place," Yin Yang told them all after. He'd gone ahead of time and hid them so that if they were checked for weapons, they'd be clean.

"All right. Let's go," Barney gestured. Lee went last. He had a bad feeling about this mission for some reason, and he didn't know why.

...

Emily was practically vibrating. She was finally in Paris! Miranda was off doing her own thing, leaving Emily to wander about and take in everything. The last year had been hard since replacing Andrea had been near impossible. Emily herself was trying to get a different position within the magazine because she was a bit tired of running around for Miranda after this long of doing it. Hell, she had been contemplating leaving the magazine altogether and getting a job elsewhere. She was just getting up the nerve to do so.

"Sorry," a man said after jostling into her. He was a short, Chinese man, and he was in quite the hurry. Emily brushed off her dress, feeling a little annoyed that he'd wrinkled it. Then she noticed one of the well known men in the fashion industry across the room, Louis Theron. He was chatting with some men and women and laughing at something humorous. She really wanted to talk to him. If anyone had connections to help her get a different job, it would be him. It was his building they were in tonight, and she was admiring everything about it.

Then, she blinked in surprise. There was a man standing close by to Louis who she recognized from somewhere. She frowned, thinking. Where had she seen that man before? He turned away and moved on, so she eventually dismissed it and went to find the ladies' room.

...

"Great idea, Yang," Lee said sarcastically. "Hide the guns in the women's washroom. How is that smart?"

"No one would think to look there," Yin said back through the intercom.

"No. It just makes it super awkward for us," Lee retorted.

"Go fast," Yin suggested. He had been standing guard outside the bathroom, but he had been summoned by Barney to join him down in the crowd a few minutes earlier. Caesar was now keeping watch. Lee rolled his eyes and handed the others their weapons of choice.

"See you out there. Hurry up," Toll said as he, Gunner, and Caesar left, now armed. Lee put the bag back into the ceiling and was getting ready to exit the stall when the bathroom door opened and a pair of heels clacked in. He froze.

"Damn it," he breathed to himself.

...

Emily checked her make up in the mirror. She noticed one of the stall doors was shut, so she refrained from talking to herself, which she sometimes did when she was alone. After a few moments, she decided she looked acceptable enough. She turned to leave when the bathroom door was flung open, and man came in pointing a gun at her.

"You're one of them, aren't you?" he demanded. "I've been watching you."

"W-What?" she spluttered. "One of who? What are you talking about?"

"Don't lie! You're a spy!" he shrieked. "The moment you came, you've been shady!"

"No! No, I'm not!" Emily cried. She opened her mouth to scream as he moved to shoot her when the stall door was whipped back, and a knife came flying out and crashed into the man's throat. Shocked and horrified, Emily stared as the man fell to the floor, dead. Instinct told her to scream for help, but another man was now in front of her, pressing his hand into her lips.

"Don't," he ordered. "You'll only bring more trouble this way."

Emily's eyes widened in recognition and surprise. He himself was also surprised.

"Promise not to say anything?" he asked. She nodded, and he removed his hand.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded as he bent to retrieve his knife from the dead man. "Who are you? Why did you kill him?"

"I could ask you the same questions, except I know why he's dead," Christmas reasoned.

Emily had thought about Christmas a few times too many since she had met him in the hospital three years ago. The shock of seeing him was a bit overwhelming, not to mention seeing him kill a man.

"You first," she commanded, crossing her arms tightly.

"All right. I'm Lee Christmas. I'm a mercenary. I'm here on a job. This man here is part of the group we're hired to take out."

Lee bent to pick up the man and drag him to the nearest stall.

"Why? What did he do?" she asked, watching. She was perplexed as to what he was doing. "And what are you doing with him?"

"He's working for an arms dealer, and I'm tucking him away to give me more time before someone finds him," Lee answered, panting from the effort of setting the man on the toilet. He locked the stall door from the inside and crawled out from under it, rejoining Emily.

"And that dealer is here? Tonight?" Emily asked, shocked. This whole thing was bizarre.

"Yea," Lee nodded as he grabbed paper towel to mop up the blood on the floor.

"Lee, where are you?" Barney's voice came into his ears.

"I gotta go," Lee told her after finishing with the blood and throwing the paper towel out.

"Wait," Emily said, grabbing his arm. "What do I do?"

"Go back and enjoy the party..." Lee answered, pausing and realizing he still didn't get her name.

"Emily," she told him. "You really kill people for a living?"

"Only those who had it coming," Lee answered.

"Because they do crimes," Emily realized.

"Yea."

"Today, Christmas," Barney's voice came again.

"I really gotta go now," Lee said, tugging free from her grip. He left, and Emily stood there feeling shocked still until she realized she didn't want to be found in the bathroom with a dead body hiding in a stall. She hurried back out to join the crowd.

...

"What the hell, Lee? What took you so long?" Toll hissed when he finally joined them.

"Sorry," Lee said. "Had to take out a foghorn." It was their code for someone who was about to blow their operation. They were huddled in a different stairway. Louis Theron had almost been informed of their presence, but thanks to Lee and Gunner, the men who were suspicious were no longer speaking.

"We gotta move fast before our cover is blown," Barney said. He explained the plan to them. Theron was making his deal there, and they had to find him doing it before it was too late.

"Go team," Caesar said as they split up afterwards. He and Lee went to their side of the building. Lee could see Emily in the crowd now, and he could tell she was looking for him.

"There he goes," Toll's voice said. They watched Louis Theron head to the stairwell with some of his men.

"Get ready to move in," Barney's voice came back. Lee and Caesar walked casually after the men. Then, Lee saw Emily hurrying after Louis.

"Oh, shit," he said.

"What? What's going on?" Barney asked.

"We got a civilian going after Theron."

"Stop them."

"On it," Lee said, surging forward. What the hell was Emily doing?!

...

Emily just had to talk to Louis Theron before the night was over. She admired him so much after all. She was hoping that maybe he could help her get a different job in a different magazine somewhere far away from Miranda Priestly. She found Louis in a room off the hall. He was with a few other men, and they were all staring at her.

"Oh, hi," she said. "So sorry. I just...I was hoping to speak with Mr. Theron for a moment. I'm rather a big fan of his."

"Another time," Louis said. He shot one of the men a look, and Emily felt her skin prickle. What was going on here?

"Oh...okay. Sure," she nodded. Was that a gun she saw in one of the men's pants?! She felt sweat on her back suddenly. No, this couldn't be...

"There you are, luv!" a voice called. Emily turned to see Lee in front of her. He put his arm around her and pulled her in close. "Thought I'd lost you. Come on, we're gonna miss drinks with the lads."

He moved to pull her out of the room, but it was too late.

"Gun!" a voice shouted. Emily shrieked as guns were pulled out and aimed at them. Lee fired his off first, shielding Emily as best as he could while pushing her out in front of him. In the hallway, he grabbed her hand and ran.

"I've been made!" Lee called into his comm to the others. More gunshots went off, followed by shouts of the men. Screaming could be heard downstairs now.

"What do we do now?!" Emily shouted.

"Lee, get out now," Barney ordered in Lee's ear.

"I've got a witness," Lee replied.

"Bring them too."

"Wait, what are you doing?" Emily asked as Lee hauled her after him to the window. He yanked it open. It was their second option of an escape route.

"Hope you're not afraid of heights," he said, grabbing the harness that was waiting outside.

"What?!"

He hooked it onto her while she complained.

"This is a very expensive dress..." she started.

"Is it worth your life?" he asked, stopping to look at her.

"Well...no," she started.

"I didn't think so. Come on," he said, helping her up onto the sill and climbing up after her.

"I actually am afraid of heights," she said, trembling inside. Looking down had almost made her throw up.

"Do you trust me?" he asked her as he stood behind her. It would have to do. He couldn't risk her falling if he was wearing the harness.

"Not really," she answered. "I don't know you." Although, she did feel a little bit safer with his arms around her.

"You haven't got much of a choice I'm afraid," he said. He pushed off, making her cry out as they started rappelling down. Lee moved quickly and carefully. Emily had her eyes squeezed shut. Bullets whizzed past them, making her scream again. Lee shot back and killed the man above who had been shooting at them. He fell past them in a blur to the ground below. Emily heard the ominous thud after.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," Emily was repeating to herself. The really couldn't be happening.

Lee got them to the ground, and he released her from the cable.

"Come on," he urged, taking her hand again and once more beginning to run.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere safe."

Emily didn't argue. She wanted to be as far away from the shooting as possible. Her next worry, though, was: what was going to happen to her now?


	3. Chapter 3

****I hope you guys like the story so far. Happy reading!****

* * *

Emily felt terrified still as they reached a hotel room. Lee let them in and shut and bolted the door behind him.

"Barney? I'm good," he said.

Emily couldn't hear Barney's response. She stood and hugged herself as Lee loosened his tie and tossed it onto the bed. She was taken aback at how casual he was behaving after what had just happened. Then again, she remembered he did this all the time. She shuddered.

"Want a drink?" he asked.

"No thanks."

Lee helped himself to one anyway. She watched.

"I know you're thinking I'm a bad guy," he started, noticing her gaze.

"No," she shook her head. "You saved my life. You were trying to stop a bad man from doing business with more bad men. I get it."

"Do you, though?" Lee asked, looking at her.

"All right, I'm not entirely convinced, but who am I to judge?" she replied.

"Think of me as the behind the scenes kind of guy who helps keep the world able to sleep at night," Lee told her.

"Okay," she agreed. She could try anyway. She'd never been around anyone like him before. She felt her phone vibrating.

"Oh, I should answer this," she said, seeing that it was Miranda. Lee grabbed her phone before she could, though, making her protest.

"Theron saw you with me. He's most likely going to come after you now."

"What?!"

"I'm sorry."

"But...but I'm not with you. I just happened to walk into the wrong place at the wrong time. You came and latched onto __me__! I don't know anything!" she insisted.

"Guys like Theron don't take chances," Lee said, looking at her. Her phone stopped ringing and then started to vibrate with text messages from someone named Miranda.

****Where are you?****

****You just abandoned me here, how could you do that?!****

****Emily, this is serious. Nigel was shot.****

****Do you want to get fired?****

****Answer me!****

"Whoa," Lee said, frowning as he read them. There were more texts coming in hot. Emily grabbed her phone back from him.

"Oh my God, Nigel," she gasped, reading.

"It could be a trick to get you to answer and tell her where you are," Lee warned.

"Thankfully, I am not as paranoid as you," she retorted.

"I call it being vigilant," Lee countered.

"I have to answer her," Emily insisted.

"Theron could be behind it..."

"I rather much doubt it. I'm just a lowly assistant."

"He knows you work for this Miranda woman?"

"I doubt it."

Emily ignored his warning and called Miranda, who answered screeching.

"Where are you?! It's been a complete nightmare, and I need you to help me get out of here!" she yelled.

"Is Nigel okay?" Emily asked.

"What? He's fine. He just got shot in the arm. Emily, where is my plane?"

"At the airport. I'll call and tell them you're coming."

Lee was stunned at how Emily's boss was talking to her. Did she not realize that Emily was involved in the same event, that she may have been hurt too?

"Do that," Miranda huffed.

Emily hung up the phone looking a bit grumpy. Why would she even bring up Nigel if she was only going to dismiss his injury as nothing? She never understood that woman at times.

"Did she even ask if you were going with her? How are you getting home anyway?" Lee asked.

"I flew with her. I guess she figures I will do my own thing," Emily shrugged. She felt anxious and annoyed and frustrated. Miranda was infuriating. Before Lee could say anything else, there was pounding on the door. Emily jumped in fright and hid behind Lee as he pulled out his gun and walked towards the door.

"When it all goes south?" Lee asked. Emily gave him a puzzled look. What?

"You'll be drivin' around on a John Deere tractor," came the reply. It was one of the Alabama songs they listened to, and it made for a great code phrase.

"What?" Emily asked out loud, not understanding. Lee opened the door, and Barney stood there with the others. They all piled into the room.

"That was close, man," Toll panted as he came in last.

"He got away," Barney said. "He'll be underground by now."

"He'll have a limp now, though," Gunner commented. "I got him in the leg in a bad spot."

"Yea, and you grazed a civilian's arm doing that," Caesar said. "Nice going."

"You shot Nigel?" Emily asked, making them all look at her. They all froze.

"Um, who's this?" Toll questioned, looking at Lee.

"She's the one who followed Theron to his meeting," Lee answered. There was a collective bunch of "ahs" and nods among the rest aside from Barney, who remembered he had told Lee to bring the witness with him. The others had missed that conversation over the comms amidst all the excitment it seemed.

"Does Theron know who you are?" Barney asked Emily. She felt very small and a bit afraid around these men. She suddenly recognized two of them from the hospital three years ago.

"Wait, you were the policemen," she said, pointing at Gunner and Toll.

"Yea, not so much," Toll shook his head.

"Does Theron know who you are or not?" Barney repeated.

"No," she shook her head. "That was my first time ever seeing him in person."

"He can do surveillance and figure out who she is," Yin pointed out. "Lots of cameras there. It'll be a matter of time."

"So what do we do for right now?" Lee asked.

"Excuse me, but do I get a say in any of this?" Emily demanded.

"No," both Barney and Lee answered. She raised her eyebrows in surprise and opened her mouth to object.

"Theron is going to find out who you are and come after you," Lee interrupted before she could say anything.

"Why? I don't understand," she spluttered.

"Because he thinks you are linked with us," Barney explained.

"But...I'm __not__..."

"It doesn't matter. Someone's gonna have to stay with you until this clears up."

Lee raised his brow in surprise. Someone was to stay with her? Barney didn't do undercover work or bodyguard work. What was going on here? He stared at his friend.

"Can I do it?" Yin asked.

"I'm better at it," Toll snorted.

"You're both gonna suck at it," Gunner said. "I'll do it."

"Hang on," Emily said, holding up her hand. "Someone is going to stay with me? Like, one of you guys?"

"Yea," Barney nodded.

"Oh no," Emily shook her head. "Absolutely not."

"Theron has a special way of killing people," Barney began, stepping closer to her. "He enjoys torturing them for hours on end, and even then he still doesn't just blow your head off and end it. No, he likes to make death happen slowly."

"Barney," Lee warned.

"No, no, she needs to hear this," Barney argued. He looked at Emily again, who was visibly scared now. "I could go on with the ways he kills slowly, but I don't think I need to. Is that what you want to happen to you? Because trust me, Theron will not hesitate to do that to you just because you're a woman."

"All right," Emily said quietly. "But if anyone is going to be staying with me, it's going to be Lee."

"Aw," Toll said, disappointed.

"Come on," Gunner groaned.

"I don't do that sort of thing," Lee said. Emily jutted out her chin at him defiantly.

"I don't have strangers babysit me, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do," she said.

"She's right," Barney agreed.

"Theron knows what I look like," Lee argued. "If he sees me with her, he'll know..."

"It doesn't matter if he knows what you look like. He's going to kill her if someone doesn't stay with her. You're doing it," Barney said with a note of finality. He went to pour himself a drink then, and Lee made a growling noise in his throat. He went over to Barney to have a quieter discussion about it.

"You're using her as bait," Lee said under his breath, having put it together. It wasn't the first time Barney had done this, and it wouldn't be the last. "Instead of being her bodyguard, we should be sending her somewhere off the radar until Theron is gone, like we've done before with witnesses."

"Theron will want to tidy this up, and I'm gonna be there when he tries to," Barney replied quietly. "If he can't find her, then he won't come after her. If he doesn't come after her, then I can't get him. Lee, it was made very clear to me how long it took just to figure out who Theron was as well as find him and how important it is to take him out. I have to smoke him out of hiding, and he won't come out if we don't do this."

"This is dangerous," Lee warned.

"I know, but you're the best, and you'll be with her to prevent any harm," Barney reasoned. "It'll be fine."

"I don't like it."

"I'm not changing my mind," Barney said. He moved away from Lee then to prevent further discussion about it.

"I'm not missing work either," Emily said then.

"I can't sit with you at work all day," Lee argued.

"Sit in a car outside then," she shrugged.

"Did Theron see any of you guys clearly?" Lee asked, looking at the rest of the team.

"Gunner gave himself away when he shot him," Caesar said.

"Are you still on that? You're just jealous that I had the clearer shot," Gunner commented. "Get over it."

"You clearly did not have a clear shot because you shot a civilian in the arm!" Caesar exploded.

"Go over there and argue about it," Lee ordered, pointing. "We're trying to have an adult conversation here." Neither of them moved, but they stopped talking.

"I don't think the rest of us were seen, but that doesn't mean he won't go looking through his footage to find out," Barney said. "Might take him a while, though." Toll raised his hand.

"I'll do it," he said.

"Damn it," Yang muttered. "Too slow."

"What are you doing?" Emily asked.

"There's your new security guard at the office," Lee answered, gesturing. Toll grinned.

"Uh uh. No way!" Emily cried. "He'll never get hired."

"I'm very persuasive," Toll winked.

"You let us worry about that," Barney said. "Load up, team. We're outta here."

"Wait, what about me?" Emily asked.

"You're coming with us," Lee answered.

...

Louis Theron was not happy. His arms deal had been butchered, and he was getting a bullet removed from his leg. He was advised he would need a cane for a while after, and he would never lose the limp. He cursed the man who had shot him.

"Who was the woman?" he demanded once he was in recovery after the bullet was taken out and his men came to see him.

"We don't know."

"Search the cameras. Find her, and find out where she lives, who she is."

"You got it."

"Find out about the man who shot me too, and the man who was with the woman. I want to know if they're all working together or separately."

"Yes, sir."

Louis leaned back in his hospital bed and thought hard. Where had the woman come from? Why had she wanted to speak with him? She hadn't seemed like the assassin type, but then again, not all of them did. The man who took her away was definitely an assassin, though. Why else would he have had a gun in his pants? He wasn't sure how many assassins were at this event who were after him, but he'd find out who they all were, and then it would be time to clean up the mess.

...

Emily bounced in the back of the plane with Toll, Gunner, Caesar, and Yang. She had arranged Miranda's flight out first because she knew she'd get fired otherwise. Miranda didn't even ask how Emily was getting home, which Emily was a bit offended by. Did Miranda assume that Emily had her own private jet? Well, she kind of did, but it wasn't hers. At least Barney was a decent pilot. She wished Lee had sat back with her. She felt uncomfortable, but at least the men weren't all staring at her. Toll was reading something, and Caesar was sharpening a knife. Yang was sleeping, but Gunner was looking at her. He grinned when she met his gaze. She looked away quickly.

"Fashion, huh?" Gunner asked.

"Yup," she nodded.

"Seems pointless."

"Contrary to what you think, you're wearing something that was designed by someone somewhere," Emily pointed out. Gunner looked down at his ripped vest curiously.

"Huh," he said.

Emily stood then, careful not to fall over from the turbulence. She made her way to the front where Lee and Barney were sitting. She was appalled to find Barney drinking.

"I'm pretty sure that's not legal," she said to him.

"Are you a cop?" he asked.

"No..."

"Then we're good," Barney cut her off. He stuck his cigar back into his mouth. Emily waved her hand in front of her face, coughing at the smoke. She turned to Lee, who was looking contemplative as he stared out the window.

"He's on Think Mode," Barney said, making her turn to look at him again.

"Excuse me?"

"He doesn't answer anyone when he's thinking unless it's an insult," Barney explained. He leaned over to look around her at Lee. "Then again, he might just be constipated. It's the same face, really."

"Shut up," Lee retorted. "I'm thinking."

"See? Think Mode," Barney told Emily, going back to his cigar and beer.

"How long until we're home?" Emily asked.

"Bit more yet," Barney answered. "Get comfortable. Blankets are in the bin. Pillows too."

Emily knew she was dismissed after that. She gave Lee one last look, but he was still in his own world. She reluctantly went back to the others and tried to get comfortable. She knew she wasn't going to sleep, though. She had too much adrenaline for that.

...

When they finally landed in a small airstrip in New York, Barney turned to look at Lee.

"You're mad at me, aren't you?"

"Whatever for?" Lee asked sarcastically, looking back at him finally.

"Giving you babysitting duty."

"I can't imagine why I'd be mad at you for doing that."

"I'm a little confused myself actually," Barney admitted. "She's cute. Who wouldn't want to hang out with her?"

"Have you forgotten that I've been seeing someone for the last few months?" Lee asked.

"Lacy? Oh, I thought that was done."

"It's not done. It's been hard to date her when we've been around the world so much lately, but I like her."

"She's not your type," Barney shook his head.

"Oh really? And what is my type?" Lee challenged.

"Spicy, British women," Barney said, pointing his thumb backwards towards where Emily was sitting out of earshot.

"You know, British people don't have to stick to their own kind. We can date other people. It's called free will," Lee said, annoyed.

"Come on, Lee. It's only for a little bit. I'm sure Theron will find her fast enough. Then we can kill him and move on with our lives."

"After we find out who he's selling to," Lee reminded him.

"Of course," Barney nodded.

"And what am I supposed to tell Lacy? She thinks I'm going to be home tomorrow."

"That's on you," Barney shrugged, getting up finally to leave. Lee sat there for a few moments more feeling frustrated. Then he stood and moved to the back of the plane. Emily was waiting for him.

"I'm sorry," she said, seeing his face. "I don't want to do this either."

"Hopefully it won't be long," Lee said. "Come on."

She followed him out as he slung his bag over his shoulder. She could tell he was miffed about something. She just hoped he wasn't mad at her because after all, it wasn't her idea that she needed protection.

* * *

****If you have time to leave a review, I'd appreciate it :)****


	4. Chapter 4

Emily stood to the side as Barney briefed with Lee and Toll.

"Toll, I'll work on getting you into the magazine place as security. Here's some cash for a motel room. I called around and found one that will let you stay there on a week to week basis. I'm separating you from us in case you're being watched."

"Thanks, man," Toll nodded, taking the envelope of cash.

"Thanks for volunteering. I know we don't normally do undercover work," Barney said.

"No problem. It's gonna be entertaining," Toll grinned.

"Lee, you're going to stay with Emily."

"I know."

"In her apartment."

"Whoa, what?" Lee asked. "That wasn't the deal..."

"If Theron is after her, he'll find and target her place. He won't expect you to be there...I hope. Sorry, mate, but you gotta do it."

"You can't just get me an apartment in the same building as hers?"

"Not this fast."

"Fine."

"I've already talked to Emily about it. She said it was fine if you didn't mind the couch."

"Awesome."

Sleeping on a couch for an undetermined amount of time...it sounded so joyful.

"We'll hang out close by. If you need us, holler," Barney finished.

"Will do," Toll bobbed his head. Lee said nothing. Two cabs pulled up, one for Toll and one for Lee and Emily.

"Have fun," Barney said. Toll got into his cab and left. Emily got into the second cab, and Lee went to follow, but Barney caught Lee's arm to stop him.

"What?"

"I know I was teasing you about Emily, but seriously, it's probably not a good idea to get too close to her."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Lee asked.

"I'll be in touch," Barney finished, ignoring the comment. Lee got into the cab, and Barney shut the door behind them. Emily was looking out her window as they drove, and Lee wondered just what the hell he'd gotten himself into.

...

"Well?" Louis asked, standing behind his man, Josh, at the computer. His leg was aching, but he refused to lie down. He was not weak. He hadn't even stayed in the hospital as long as they wanted him to. He was not going to lie around and do nothing, and he certainly wasn't going to be an easy target.

"It doesn't appear that she came in with either of the two men," Josh indicated.

"Who did she come in with?"

"Her," Josh answered, pointing. Louis stared at the screen.

"Miranda Priestly," he mused. "Interesting."

"I can run facial recognition of the other two men worldwide to find where they are now if you'd like," Josh offered. Louis smiled. They did have the technology after all. It paid to be high up in the world of crime sometimes.

"Do that, but for now, let's pay attention to Miranda and see who her right hand girl is," Louis said. "Find out all you can on her."

"I'm on it," Josh grinned, picking up the phone to call in his partners. They were going to go get some intelligence in New York City.

...

Emily felt slightly nervous as she unlocked her apartment door. Lee stood behind her, and she vaguely wondered what state she had left her place in.

"I don't judge," Lee said, reading her mind.

"I didn't say you did," she countered. She pushed the door open and felt relief to see it was tidy inside. Once they were both inside, she shut and bolted the door. She tried not to let on that she felt scared. Who knew that a trip to Paris was going to put her life at risk?

A noise made Lee pull out his gun quickly, and Emily's heart jumped into her throat. Were they there already? How had they found her?

Then, she started to laugh because her cat, Jasper, came running towards her. Lee lowered his gun, feeling ridiculous.

"Hey, you," Emily said, bending to scoop Jasper into her arms. "I missed you too."

"I did not peg you as a cat person," Lee commented, setting his bag down. He wished she had warned him she had a pet. It would have saved the embarrassment of almost shooting it.

"Not many do," she replied, scratching Jasper's chin and rubbing his ears. The cat meowed and purred. Then, as usual, he struggled to get down. Emily wished he would cuddle with her for longer, but he had a very short time limit in that department. Jasper streaked away, ignoring Lee altogether.

"Well, make yourself at home I guess," she gestured. She took her bag to her room and set it down. She wanted to change desperately. She could hear Lee out in the living room setting up as she stripped. Just knowing he was out there gave her a funny feeling in her stomach, but it wasn't unpleasant. She caught herself. What the hell was that? She slapped her cheeks as she looked at herself in the mirror.

"He's so not your type," she told herself. "Stop it." After staring at herself and finding and noting all of her flaws, she finally shook her head and put on comfier clothes. She came back out of her room to find Lee had taken off his coat. He had a white t-shirt on, and it revealed a tattoo on his right, inner forearm just before the crease of his elbow.

"What is that?" she asked. He looked at her.

"What is what?"

"The black chicken on the rock?"

Lee couldn't help it. He started to laugh.

"What? What did I say?" she asked.

"Nothing," he shook his head. He'd told Tool many times the damn raven looked like a black chicken. Here was proof that he wasn't the only one to think so. The skull looking like a rock was a new one. He'd have to share that with Tool.

"Well? What does it mean?" she pressed, not giving up easily.

"It's just the team's logo," he answered. "And it's a raven, not a chicken, and a skull, not a rock."

"Ew," Emily said, wrinkling her nose.

"Don't judge," he replied.

"I'm not," she insisted. "I just think it's kind of gross."

"Make fun all you want. I don't suppose you've got one I can mock, eh?" he asked. Emily worked very hard to keep her face from flushing.

"Nope," she lied. She turned quickly, heading for the kitchen. Lee noticed, and he couldn't help but wonder just where she had it and why she was embarrassed by it. He smiled to himself behind her back. This might be fun after all.

**The Next Day **

Emily got up when her alarm went off, showered, dressed, and made her way the kitchen to make coffee. She gave a start when she saw Lee lying on the couch with an arm thrown over his head, but she quickly remembered why he was there. It all seemed ridiculous, but Barney's words of what Theron could do to her frightened her more than she wanted to admit. She got the coffee going and put out some food for Jasper. She herself did not eat anything. She didn't really eat much to begin with. She knew it was a small problem, but she didn't concern herself with it too often. It was who she was. She accepted that. She heard a cell phone vibrate with a text message on the counter, and she looked to see that it was Lee's phone. The name on the envelope on the front said "Lacy." Emily was surprised to feel a bit of disappointment hit her chest. Who was Lacy? She must be his girlfriend. Of course he'd have a girlfriend. Why would she think he didn't? He was good looking and intelligent. If she noticed it, then other women noticed it too. She walked away from the phone and leaned against the opposite counter, waiting for her coffee maker to finish. Her thoughts wandered towards Lee. Why did it disappoint her to think he had a girlfriend? She pondered on this.

A pounding on her door made her jump and Lee sit up boltright, gun in hand and aimed at the door.

"Easy, Rambo," she said. She knew who it was. Lee looked at his watch. It was 7:30. How had he slept in?

"Wait," he said, but she opened the door. He hid the gun quickly.

"Hi, Steve," she said.

"No run today?" Steve asked.

"Not today."

"You sure? I missed you when you were gone," he told her.

"I'm just not feeling it today," Emily replied. Steve caught sight of Lee then.

"You have company?" he asked.

"Oh...yea," Emily said, looking at Lee. "He's my cousin. He's here for a bit til he finds his own place."

"Cool," Steve said. "I'm Steve."

"Lee," Lee answered.

"I'm sorry you're running alone today," Emily said. "But then again, you won't have to hurt yourself to keep up with me."

"Ha, ha, ha," Steve said sarcastically. "Okay. Another day?"

"Another day," she promised. Then he was gone.

"Your cousin?" Lee asked once she shut the door.

"Not bad, huh? It just came to me on the spot," Emily said, moving to pour her now finished coffee into a mug.

"We don't exactly look alike," Lee pointed out.

"Maybe you were adopted," Emily shot back. "I couldn't very well say you were my boyfriend. Steve knows I'm not seeing anyone."

"I think Steve wants you to see him," Lee commented, getting up. He'd noticed it very easily. Steve had looked threatened until Emily had said the word "cousin." Then he had visibly relaxed.

"Excuse me?" Emily asked, surprised.

"Oh, come on. Did you not see his face when he was looking at you? It was quite obvious," Lee said as he picked up his phone. Emily noticed his face as he saw the message from Lacy, but she couldn't read his expression.

"Steve is just a friend," she told him.

"Who doesn't want to be in the Friend Zone," Lee countered. He shut his phone and looked at her. "Trust me. I know."

"How could you know? You just met him."

"I read people for a living," he shrugged. "Just like right now, you're wondering about the person who sent me that text."

"What? No," Emily spluttered.

"I know you looked at my phone when it went off, and I saw you looking at me when I read it. Like I said, I have been doing this a long time."

"Contrary to what you think, I don't care who was writing you," Emily lied. "If you'll excuse me, I have to get to work now."

"All right," Lee said. He decided to let it go for now. It was interesting to him, though, that she wanted to know who he was talking to.

"What are you going to do all day?" she asked.

"Don't you worry about me," Lee answered. Emily raised a brow but didn't push. She gathered her purse and coffee travel mug and walked out.

...

"How was your first morning?" Barney asked. Lee was on the phone with him and sitting on a park bench just a little ways down from _Runway_. He had followed Emily discreetly ever since she had left. He'd seen Toll go in dressed as a security guard, and all he could do was wait for her to leave for the day and follow her back home. It was around noon now.

"It was fine."

"Anything out of place?"

"Not yet."

Lee examined the area around him. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to him. He kept his ball cap low, though, in case Emily made a sudden appearance with someone else in tow. He didn't feel like playing cousin again.

"You talk to Lacy?"

"We've been texting. I told her I was delayed in coming home. She's mad at me."

"Mad at you?"

"Yea. It's been almost a month since I saw her last," Lee answered.

"Comes with the job," Barney commented. "It's not my fault you haven't told her what you do for a living."

"I like to keep work separate from personal life."

"Sometimes it doesn't work that way."

"How did you get Toll the job?" Lee asked, changing the subject.

"I had a guy who owes me a favor. There was luckily also a job opening for a new security guard."

"Lucky us."

"I'm sure Theron has figured out who Emily is by now and is on his way," Barney pointed out.

"You have a lot of confidence."

"I like to be positive, yes."

"Right. And how is that positive thinking? He wants to kill her," Lee scoffed.

"Positive thinking in that this will all be over soon, and you can go be with your girlfriend. That's all I meant."

"Uh huh. I gotta go."

"Later."

Lee noticed Emily coming out of _Runway_ with another woman. He vaguely recognized her. Then it hit him. She had visited Emily in the hospital three years ago. He pulled his hat lower. Emily couldn't say he was her cousin to this woman because she'd know it wasn't true if she recognized him. They walked by him, and he could feel Emily's eyes on him. He didn't look up.

...

"I still can't believe what happened over there," Serena was saying as they walked. Emily immediately noticed Lee sitting on the bench. She assumed he thought his hat could hide him for some reason. She didn't address him as they walked by, but she gave him a level stare all the same.

"It was a shock, yes," she said, knowing Serena wanted a response.

"And poor Nigel. His arm looks terrible all wrapped up."

"At least no one else was hurt," Emily said.

"You must have been so scared."

"It was frightening, but I'm here now. Let's not talk about it anymore, okay?"

"Okay."

They walked and talked about other things. Serena complained about her boyfriend. Emily listened. She was thinking about Lee and this Lacy person for some reason. When they got back to the office, Emily noticed Toll sitting and reading behind the desk.

"Good walk?" he asked them, looking up.

"It was, yes," Serena smiled at him. Emily noticed that Serena was using her flirty eyes. This intrigued her.

"Excellent," Toll smiled back. His name tag said "Chase." Emily had wondered if he'd pick a new name instead of using "Toll," but how much better was "Chase" anyway?

"What are you reading?" Serena asked him, peeking.

"Oh. It's this story about a journalist who gets stuck working in fashion under a type of tyrant in order to get a job wherever she wants. It's quite good really," Toll said. His face was going a little bit red, though.

"Can I borrow it when you're done?" Serena asked.

"Sure. It was just sitting here. It's not mine."

"Great. See you later."

"Have a good afternoon," Toll said, tipping his hat. Serena giggled. Emily rolled her eyes.

Emily gave Toll one last look as they went into the elevator.

"I love it when guys feel free to read 'girly' books," Serena sighed.

"Seriously?"

"Yea. It doesn't make me think less of their masculinity. If anything, it's sexy."

"Okay," Emily said, holding up her hand. "Enough."

"He's very handsome," Serena went on. "And that uniform..."

"You have a boyfriend," Emily pointed out.

"But for how long? It's on the rocks as it is right now. I like to keep my options open."

"Okay, well...just wait until you're single before leaping onto the poor man," Emily said, stepping out of the elevator once it hit her floor. Serena gave her a smug smile as the doors shut behind Emily. She shook her head as she went back to her desk.

"Good lunch?"

Emily looked up at the new second assistant sitting across from her. Mei Quan was their newest hire, and she had lasted so far. She was petite and almost fragile looking, but she was anything but that. Mei was strong and determined, and Emily knew she could handle her own. Even Emily had been surprised to see Miranda unable to make this woman feel depressed and full of self loathing over doing the job.

"Yes, it was," Emily answered. Mei didn't say anything else as she went back to work. Emily didn't know how to read Mei really.

"Emily," Miranda called. Without missing a beat, Mei got up and went to join her.

Some things really didn't change.

...

"What is that?" Emily asked as Lee picked up a package of pepperettes.

"Food," he answered.

"You know, my father had a minor heart attack, and they told him meat in a tube was a once a year kind of treat," she explained. Lee gave her a level stare.

"I think I have a higher risk of getting shot or stabbed or blown up," he pointed out. "I will take my chances."

"It's your health," she shrugged. She already had her groceries picked out. Lee, as it turned out, was a bit picky about what he ate. She was surprised at this.

"Emily, hi," Nigel said, coming into view. Emily froze. Lee stood very still, his back to them, as he pretended to be looking at something.

"Hi, Nigel. How are you? I didn't get a chance to see you today," Emily said. "How's the arm?"

"Sore, but it could be worse," Nigel replied. "How are you? I didn't see you after it happened."

"I just ran like hell to get out of there," she answered. "I didn't look back."

"Well, it certainly scarred me for life. Literally," Nigel said jokingly, but then he grew serious. "I hope it never happens again."

"I'm sure it won't," Emily assured him. They shared a sympathetic smile with each other.

"Branching out, are we?" Nigel asked, seeing the pile of unhealthy food in her cart. Lee caught him examining it with an odd expression.

"Oh...ah..." Emily said, hesitating. "I've got company."

"Ah, that makes sense," Nigel nodded. "Well, carry on then. I'll see you later."

"Take care," Emily said as he waved and left.

"My food is not abnormal," Lee said once Nigel was gone.

"Seems to me like it is."

"No, you're abnormal," he gestured. "I don't even know what any of that is, but it certainly doesn't look like food."

"To each their own," she commented, moving forward. He just shook his head as he followed her.

...

"Okay, so we have Emily's schedule," Barney said, setting out the papers on the table. Gunner, Caesar, and Yang examined them.

"Lee's gonna be busy," Gunner commented.

"Well, I figured we could cut him some slack on some of these," Barney said. "Like her runs in the morning. Someone could cover him there."

"I'll do it," Yang volunteered.

"Thank God," Gunner sighed. "I don't do running."

"I agree," Caesar snorted. "You barely keep up on missions."

"My aim is better. I don't need to be fast," Gunner retorted.

"Oh, oh, are we gonna start that up again?" Caesar asked, incredulous. "Who shot a civilian in the arm again?! Huh?"

"Enough!" Barney hollered. He was getting annoyed with those two about that incident.

"She spends most of her time at work," Yang noted, still looking and ignoring the other two.

"Yea. Toll's got that covered."

"Hair appointments?" Yang asked, looking up at them. Barney looked between Gunner and Caesar.

"Isn't that one obvious?" Caesar commented, patting the top of his bald head. "Do I look like I could use a hair cut?"

"Guess that's you, Gunner," Barney said, smirking.

"I don't like strangers touching my hair," Gunner growled. His thick, blonde hair was just the way he liked it.

"You don't have to get an actual hair cut," Barney said. "You just stand outside on guard."

"Oh, well I could have done that," Caesar retorted.

"You can do yoga," Barney told him, grinning widely.

"I am so not flexible..." Caesar started. Gunner was openly laughing now.

"She goes three times a week for that," Yang said.

"Yea, and a haircut once a month," Gunner snorted. "My job's easier."

"Shut up," Caesar muttered.

"She gets her hair done once every other week, not once a month," Yang went on. "Wow. Fussy lady."

"What? How many times can she get her hair trimmed?" Gunner asked.

"I imagine it's probably styling or dyeing or something," Caesar said. "But I'm no hair expert, clearly." He sniggered.

"All right," Barney said. "Everyone got their schedules?"

"Yup," Yang nodded.

"Uh huh," Caesar agreed.

"Definitely," Gunner grinned.

"Just let me know if anything or anyone seems suspicious to you," Barney told them all. "Theron could have his own spies out there too."

"Roger that," came the collected response.

...

Emily was going through other fashion magazines at the table when Lee walked by. His own curiosity got the best of him.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Studying the competition," she answered.

"It all looks the same to me," he shrugged.

"It's not," she argued.

"A dress is a dress," he countered. "I don't see the difference."

"Right, like there are no differences between your guns?"

"There are major differences..."

"Well, I don't see them," she cut him off, looking at him. "Just like you're saying you can't see the difference between dresses." He narrowed an eye at her.

"If you can't tell there is a difference between a rifle and a pistol, then I don't know what to tell you," Lee said.

"If you can't tell the difference between a halter dress and a sheath dress, then _I_ don't know what to tell _you_," she countered.

"What are you trying to do, prove a point?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered. "If there are different types of guns, then there are different types of dresses."

"All right, Sherlock," he scoffed. "Don't bust a brain cell."

"You're just mad because I'm right," she said to his receding back.

"I'm not mad."

"You're annoyed, and that is in the same family as mad," she pointed out.

"I'm irritated," he said.

"Still in the same family as mad," she commented. He gave her a level stare then.

"You just stick to your thing, and I'll stick to mine," he replied.

"Fine," she agreed. She went back to her magazine and he went back to his phone. She wondered if Lacy was writing him again. He didn't seem happy, but then again, she didn't know what happy looked like on Lee. He was a complicated guy, she was learning. She wondered just how long she would be graced with his presence. She already missed her life of freedom.

* * *

**True story: after his heart surgery, my grandfather's dietician told him about "meat in a tube" being a once a year treat because it's so deadly...that's why I threw that in there. Plus, it made for a comedy moment. I hope you're enjoying the story so far!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you reviewers Fan and Guest for leaving me feedback! I really appreciate it :) Happy reading!**

* * *

A few days later, she was waiting around for The Book. Lee had called her when she hadn't come down at her usual time.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"I'm at work."

"Still?"

"Yes. I'll be home by eleven."

"P.M.?!"

"No, A.M.," she said sarcastically. "Yes, P.M.!"

"What are you doing up there?"

"It's called work," she replied.

"Are you alone?"

"Somewhat."

"I'm coming up there."

"What? No. No, you're not," she argued. He had already hung up, and Emily panicked, wondering who would see him with her and then ask questions or make up rumors. She was typing when he entered, and the force by which he came in made her jump. She was extra jumpy lately it seemed, but then again, who wouldn't be when you were expecting someone to leap out at you and kill you?

"You're seriously working until 11?" he asked, looking at her.

"Yes," she nodded.

"Deadline?"

"The Book," she answered. Miranda didn't trust Mei to do this task yet, much to Emily's annoyance.

"What the hell is The Book?"

"You wouldn't get it," she dismissed. "I have to drop it off at Miranda's place afterwards."

"What kind of job is this again?" Lee asked, feeling confused.

"You do your job, and I'll do mine," she answered.

"Fine," he said, moving to sit at Mei's desk. He put his feet up and pulled out his phone. Emily shot him a look but then ignored him. He texted for quite some time.

"I didn't realize Barney was so interested in our movements," she said after a bit, unable to help herself.

"It's not Barney," he answered.

"I see. Girlfriend?" She knew it was Lacy. She had to confirm Lacy was his girlfriend for some reason.

"You could say that."

"How long have you been dating?"

"Not long."

He didn't offer anymore information, but Emily was curious about this woman.

"Do you like her?"

He looked at her then, an amused expression on his face.

"I do."

"How did you meet?"

"At a bar. Why are you interested in this?" he questioned, stopping what he was doing.

"I don't know. I guess I thought since we are roomies we might as well know a little bit about each other," she shrugged.

"I'm good," Lee said, going back to his phone. Emily felt a little bit annoyed inside. He was good, was he? Hrmph.

Hours later (most of it filled with awkward silence), The Book was ready. Thankfully, no one had come in to see Lee there, so she didn't have to make up some story about him. Emily picked it up and met Lee by the elevator. They went down in silence and walked out to the car he had rented. He drove her to Miranda's house where he waited in the car while she went inside. He took in all the surroundings. He wondered how anyone would want to live in such a large place to begin with. So much cleaning would be required, but then again, Miranda probably hired someone to do that for her.

"All right," Emily said, coming back. "Home time."

"Thank God," Lee groaned.

"You didn't have to sit with me," she pointed out. He didn't respond. He almost wished Theron would hurry up and come after her so he could finish it and move on with his life. It wasn't like Emily annoyed him (well, sometimes she did, but not always), but he didn't want to live with her forever. He wanted his life back.

...

"Update?" Barney asked Toll.

"Things seem to be all right for now," Toll answered. He paced while he talked on the phone. "I'm getting to know the regulars."

"That's good. Anyone asking any questions about Emily?"

"Nope."

"All right. Keep me posted."

"Will do, boss," Toll promised. After they hung up, he went back to his book. He was almost finished. He started to think about Serena a little bit then. She was cute and stunning. He didn't usually get attention from women like that. He was greatly enjoying it. He smiled to himself as he read. There were perks to being undercover it seemed. Maybe he'd do it more often.

...

"Keep that cat away from me," Lee ordered. He was trying to get settled on the couch, but Jasper kept climbing onto him and kneading him with his claws.

"The more you resist, the more he wants on you," she replied. She was watching TV, which was annoying him. He wanted to go to bed. It was late after all.

"Do you have to?" he asked, gesturing.

"Yes, I have to," she answered. He growled to himself and buried his face into the pillow. Not too long after, he felt the kneading again.

"All right," he said, getting up quickly. Jasper took off out of fear, and Emily looked at him.

"What?" she asked.

"I need a quiet, dark, and cat free zone to sleep," he said. "If I don't sleep, I won't be alert, and if I'm not alert, the chances of you dying get a lot greater."

"Okay, okay," she said, turning off the TV. "Cranky much?"

"When I can't sleep, yea," he answered. Emily picked up Jasper from his hiding place and headed to her room. Once her door was shut, Lee exhaled and felt bad for snapping. He'd make it up to her somehow. He got back down onto the couch and promptly fell asleep.

**The Next Day  
**

"What is this?" Emily asked, coming back from her run to find food and coffee waiting for her.

"I'm sorry for grouching at you last night," Lee apologized. "It's a peace offering."

"I see," she said. "Well...thank you."

He noticed she did not eat much, which made him curious. He didn't ask, though, as he was afraid of her response. He didn't want to piss her off.

"How was Steve?" he asked casually when she came back changed into her work clothes. He was glad Yang was on running duty. Lee was not a fan of running for sport. He only ran when his life or someone else's depended on it.

"Fine," she answered.

"Still trying too hard?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yea, you do."

"I'll be finished work at my regular time today," she said, changing the subject as she got ready to leave.

"Okay."

"Have a good day," she said with a small smile.

"You too," he replied. He almost laughed out loud. It was like they were playing a married couple without being married or romantically involved. It was a bit odd but amusing as hell.

**A Week Later**

Emily needed space. She had a constant shadow everywhere she went, even at her hair appointments! Gunner was not subtle, and her hairdresser began asking questions when he wouldn't stop hovering by the window. Gunner moved down to a bench after she told him, but not before he had laughed at her hair paraphernalia. Yang ran with her every morning, and in the beginning he had been right on her heels. Luckily, Steve had been too busy talking to her to notice. If Emily had tripped, she knew Yang would have run her right over. She told him to back off finally, and he did drop back a few feet thankfully. She had dropped out of yoga because she couldn't take Caesar whimpering in pain and asking the Sweet Lord to end the torture at every stretch anymore. She'd do it at home. She knew it was to keep her safe, but she was getting tired of it. One night after work, she got an idea. Lee was watching TV, so she went into the bathroom and locked the door. She started the shower, but instead of getting into it, she opened the window and looked out. It was easy enough to climb down to the fire escape from the window sill. Once she was at the bottom, she felt giddy. She was free! She had no one to report to, no one to complain about what she was doing, and no one to make people ask her questions. It was like her old life again. She ran down the street, eager to just do something without someone following her around.

...

Lee frowned as he turned off the TV and heard the shower running still. It had been half an hour. Was she all right in there? He went over to the door and knocked.

"Emily?" he called. No answer. He felt a bit alarmed. "Hey, Emily, I'm coming in." He tried the door and found it locked. Had she passed out in there? Had someone come in the window and killed her? He felt panicked now. Did he have to sit in the bathroom with her too and make sure no one killed her? He kicked the door in, and he found no one inside.

"Emily?!" he shouted. He went to the window and looked out. Where the hell was she? Had she been kidnapped? He reached for his phone to call her, but she didn't answer.

"Aw shit," he said, rushing to the door. He had to find her and fast. Who knew if she was even still alive. He called Barney.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. Get Yang to track her phone."

"On it."

...

Emily knew it was him before he even sat down beside her. She could feel his anger coming off of him. She stared ahead at the movie that was playing. All she had done was go to the movies. Big deal. Then, his voice was in her ear, his breath on her neck.

"Do you realize that I thought you had been kidnapped?" he asked. Emily felt bad suddenly. She hadn't thought about his reaction to her being gone. She had just wanted to get out.

"I just wanted to be alone," she answered back. He snorted.

"Alone is what is gonna get you killed," he replied.

"Look, I'm sorry," she said, twisting to face him. It put their faces very close together. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Lee didn't say anything as he looked at her. He had been scared, not that he'd admit it. His mind had gone through all sorts of scenarios as well as what he might find if Theron had killed her. When Yang told him where she was, he went through stages of relief to wanting to kill her himself to being incredibly frustrated.

"Don't do it again," he ordered. Emily briefly had a thought of what it would be like to kiss him, and she went red in the face. Thankfully, it was dark so he couldn't see it. Where the hell had that thought come from anyway?

"Okay," she agreed finally, moving back so that she was facing the movie again. Lee made her feel things every now and then, and she didn't know what to do with those feelings. She knew he had a girlfriend. It was pointless to like someone when they were dating someone else, she knew that. If only her brain could communicate that to the rest of her.

...

When they got home, Emily went to her room to go to bed (she really just wanted to hide her embarrassment). She had noticed the broken bathroom door, and she winced knowing she had to get it fixed. After a while, though, she grew thirsty.

"Hell with it," she muttered to herself. "It's my bloody apartment." She came out and stopped in her tracks when she saw Lee standing by the couch with no shirt on in his cargo pants.

"Sorry," she said, looking away quickly. Her cheeks flamed. Oh God. This was bad. To make things worse, he left it off while he came to stand beside her to get some water as well. She felt flustered. It was like he knew what he was doing to her. Then, she saw the scars.

"What happened?" she asked. She was aware that she was now openly staring at him, but she felt genuinely concerned as to how he'd gotten the scars. They looked like knife wounds in some places and bullet wounds in others.

"Just the job," he answered, setting his now empty glass down.

"They look...painful," she finished. She met his eyes then. Lee was a little surprised that she was worrying herself with old war wounds.

"It's fine," he told her. He moved back to the couch, tugging the grey t-shirt he slept in over his head. Emily finished her water and hovered for a moment.

"I really am sorry," she said again, making him look at her. "About tonight."

"I get it," he replied. "You're tired of always being watched. Who wouldn't? Just tell me next time."

"I will," she promised.

"I'll fix the door," he told her.

"I can call someone..."

"I can assure you that I know how," Lee interrupted.

"Okay. Well... good night."

"Good night."

She shut her bedroom door behind her, stopping to look at it for a moment. Then she went to bed.

**A Few Days Later**

True to his word, Lee fixed the door, but he insisted that she learn how. Emily had to admit she was impressed. He didn't just have the skill of killing people. He was a handyman too.

"Just hold it," he instructed as she struggled to hold the door still for him to screw it into the wall.

"It's heavy," she complained.

"Well, then I'll hold it and you screw it in," he suggested.

"I can try," she agreed. They switched places, and she carefully picked up the drill and screw, examining them both and wondering how to start.

"Go a little slower will you?" Lee commented. "I can hold this all day."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is it heavy?" she asked sarcastically.

"Just hurry up," he ordered. She stuck her tongue out at him childishly before continuing on. She missed his smirk like grin in response.

"No don't-" he started as she held onto the screw while squeezing the trigger of the drill.

"Ahh! Ow, ow, ow!" she yelped, dropping the screw and the drill and flapping her hand around. "Ooohhh it burns!"

Lee set the door down as she whimpered and stuck her burning fingers into her mouth. He left and returned with an ice pack.

"Here," he said, handing it to her. She pressed her fingers into it, hissing through her teeth at the sudden coldness.

"You don't hold the screw while you're operating the drill," he said.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," she retorted. "Where was that tidbit before it happened?"

"I assumed you knew how."

"Clearly I did not."

"Let me see," Lee said, taking her hand in his and turning it to see her fingers. She felt that jumpy sensation inside at his touch. "You got any aloe vera?"

"Do I have any what what?" she asked.

"For the burn," he said. "It helps."

"No, I don't."

"Put it under cold water for now then," he said.

"What about the door?"

"When you've settled down, we'll finish," he answered.

"I am not a wimp," she said hotly, picking up the drill and ignoring the pain in her fingers. "Let's go." It was so confusing, this feeling of liking him and also being so annoyed by him at the same time.

"Emily..."

She squeezed the drill, drowning him out with the noise it made. He gave her a look when she stopped.

"Are you-?"

She repeated the noise, raising a brow until he pressed his lips shut.

"You done?" she asked.

"Go for it," he gestured.

"Pick up the door," she countered. He shook his head, picking up the door and getting it into place. She put the screws in properly this time. After ten minutes, she eventually finished with the last screw and was helping tidy up when she heard knocking at her door.

"Oh no," she groaned. Who was it this time? She hoped it wasn't Steve.

"I'll finish," Lee said. She nodded and went to answer the door.

"Heyyy," Serena started when Emily opened the door.

"No!" Emily yelped, slamming it promptly in her face. She felt horrified. What was she going to do? Serena would recognize Lee from the hospital!

"Babe? You okay?" Serena asked through the door.

"Yea, uh...just...it's a mess in here!" Emily called back. "Give me a minute!"

"Okay," Serena laughed. "Whatever."

"What was that all about?" Lee asked, emerging from the bathroom having finished cleaning up in there. Emily rushed towards him and pushed him into her room.

"Hey, hey!" he yelped. "What are you doing?"

"Serena is here," she hissed. "She can't see you!"

"Aw come on," Lee said as Emily raced to grab his weapons bag he just casually left lying around. She shoved them into his arms as he gave her a look.

"Just...stay in there," she ordered.

"I'm not a dog," he started.

"Please, Lee," Emily begged. "Trust me when I say you don't want Serena thinking we are dating cos that's where her head is gonna go."

"All right, all right," Lee sighed, annoyed. She shut her bedroom door in his face and raced around the living room, hiding all evidence that someone was sleeping on the couch. Then she raced back to get Serena.

"You tidy up quick," Serena commented as she came in. Emily froze as she saw one of Lee's pistols sitting on the table by the couch. How had she missed it?!

"Um, yea," she said, casually making her way over to it. She grabbed it and held it behind her as Serena went searching for alcohol. It sometimes annoyed her how easily her friend just rummaged through her fridge.

"Since when do you eat pepperoni sticks?" Serena asked. Emily swallowed.

"Jasper likes them," she lied.

"Seriously?" Serena asked, surprised.

"I read it somewhere," Emily dismissed. Damn Lee and his stupid cravings for food she never ate. She managed to stuff the gun into the drawer without Serena seeing. Her fingers still burned, but she bit down her grimace from the pain. She'd focus on it later.

"Oh man, what a day," Serena groaned, going to sit on the couch with her glass of wine.

"Uh huh," Emily agreed. She felt so on edge.

"Is it okay if I just hang here for a bit?" Serena asked. "I just need some girl time."

"No problem," Emily said weakly. She looked over at her closed bedroom door and wondered how much Lee was gonna hate her for doing this to him.

...

Lee grew bored very quickly. He had checked out everything there was to look at. He even played with the damn cat, who had gotten locked in there with him. Now, he was sitting on the floor and looking at a photo album that had been sticking out from under the corner of her bed. He assumed the people in it were her family. Some pictures made him chuckle. Emily seemed more open and relaxed in these photos. Then, he saw a wallet sized one that made him draw in a breath, and he didn't know what possessed him to do it, but he took it out and examined it closer. Emily was laughing on a beach wearing a black, halter top style sundress (yes, he'd looked that one up to know the difference after her lecture, not that he'd ever admit it). She looked so happy.

"You don't mind that I'm borrowing that shirt?" Serena's voice asked right outside the door suddenly. Panicking, he tossed the photo album, crammed the picture into his back pocket, and shoved his weapons cache under the bed and crawled under it himself. Jasper, thinking it was a game, followed.

"No, shoo," Lee ordered, but the cat just kept pawing at his face. "Argh...damn it."

"It's such a mess in there!" Emily's voice shouted just as the door opened. Lee watched a pair of feet head to the closet with a second pair come running in after them.

"It's fine. I would hate to see what a real mess is," Serena commented. "Ah, here it is! You're such a doll. Thanks, luv!"

"No problem," Emily said faintly.

"Thanks for the gal pal time," Serena said, giving Emily a hug. "See you tomorrow."

"Sure," Emily agreed. Lee waited about two minutes before he took in a proper breath. Jasper bunted his head into Lee's face then.

"Oh, come on," he growled. He slid the protesting cat out from under the bed.

"Lee?" Emily's voice asked. He groaned as he dragged himself out. He propped himself on his elbows, half under the bed still, and looked at her.

"It better have been the best time of your life," he commented.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I really am. I didn't know she'd stay so long."

"Uh huh," he said, hauling himself to his feet now.

"Did you clean up in here?" she asked, looking around.

"Clutter annoys me," Lee answered.

"You...you organized my closet?" she asked, looking.

"Don't know how you find anything in that disorganized mess," he shrugged. She turned to look at him.

"You touched my stuff," she said.

"How else was I supposed to clean?"

"You should not have touched my stuff," she said, pointing at him. "That seriously violated my boundaries." She felt weird knowing he had touched her things. What all had he looked at? She flushed scarlet thinking of some outfits she had that he may have seen.

"Well, don't shove me in here for five hours and expect me to do nothing," Lee replied, picking up his weapons bag and moving past her. Emily opened her mouth to say something else, but she didn't know what to say. His clean up job was impeccable. She couldn't have done it any better herself. For some reason, she didn't feel as upset as she should have been. Hell, if she'd been trapped in his room, she probably would have organized it too. She looked at him standing in the living room and checking his phone, and she wondered what else this guy was going to surprise her with.

**A Week Later**

Emily gradually got used to Lee in the background. More than two weeks had gone by, and no one had tried to kill her. Emily wondered if Barney had misread the situation. She hoped that she'd be able to live her life again soon without a constant shadow. Lee was always around during the day, watching her, but he was always home before her, probably to check that the apartment wasn't broken into or something. She came home from work Friday night and caught sight of Lee sitting on the couch reading a magazine, but not the kind she expected him to be reading.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked. Startled, Lee chucked the magazine as far away from him as possible as though it was on fire. It skidded across the room and hit the wall with a thud.

"Nothing," he answered. She bent to pick up the magazine and started to laugh.

"You're reading _Runway_?!" she asked, incredulous.

"No," he denied, going a bit red in the face.

"And here I thought you were strictly a _Guns & Ammo_ kind of guy," she laughed. "You're reading an actual fashion magazine."

"I was just seeing what all the damn fuss was about," he said indignantly. Her building was always so busy, and he couldn't understand why.

"Sure you were," she nodded sarcastically. She set it on the coffee table and went to the kitchen for a drink. Lee felt a bit embarrassed.

"I still don't get what the fuss is about," he went on.

"Of course not. If it isn't about the newest, biggest gun created that could blow someone's head off by just looking at it, then it's not interesting," Emily replied.

"Well, I don't understand your stuff, and you don't understand mine. No one said we had to," Lee said defensively.

"Right," Emily agreed. She went into her room to change. She was glad it was Friday night. She was actually off all weekend for once, and she wanted to do something fun. She wondered if she'd even be allowed to. She came out of her room to hear Lee on the phone.

"I know I promised I'd be back by now. Things are just not going as planned," he was saying.

She paused, eavesdropping. She knew it was wrong, but her curiosity won.

"Lacy, I'm doing the best I can," he went on. "No, I am not seeing anyone else. Why would you even say that?"

Emily felt surprised as she examined her finger nails. Did Lacy not know what he did for a living?

"Look, I'll try to get away for a few days," Lee promised. "I'll call you."

Emily heard him sigh loudly after he had hung up. She chose this moment to enter. He looked at her when she came into view.

"Trouble in paradise?" she asked casually.

"It's nothing," he answered.

"Come on. I can tell you're dying to talk about it," Emily reasoned. "I'm a good listener." She sat down on the couch and propped her chin on her hand to prove her point. He looked conflicted, but eventually he sat down beside her.

"As you know, there's this girl I'm seeing..."

"Lacy," Emily nodded.

"Yea. It's only been a few months, and I've barely seen her because of work. She's threatening to call it quits if I don't see her in the next few days," he sighed. He was surprised he was even talking to her about this, but she was right, he did need to talk about it. Barney would just tell him to forget about Lacy, and he didn't want to just yet.

"Does she know what you do?"

"No."

"Oh, well that complicates things then," Emily noted.

"Kind of."

"Why don't you just go see her?" Emily suggested. "I mean, it's been over two weeks. I'm still alive. I think you can leave me alone for a few days."

Lee looked at her. He was very tempted to jump on her suggestion, but he knew Barney would kill him if he did.

"I can't," he shook his head.

"What if I went with you?" she offered. He gave her a surprised look.

"What?"

"I'm not on call this weekend. Let's just go," she said. "You can say I'm your cousin, if she sees me."

Lee contemplated this idea. He really wanted to see Lacy, to see if there was anything left to salvage. If Emily came with him, then he technically wasn't leaving his job. The job was coming with him.

"You'd do that for me?" he asked.

"Yes," Emily nodded, although she wasn't sure why she was offering this. It still bugged her a little that he was dating someone, and that was bothering her just as much. Why did she care?

"Why?"

"Consider it payback for making you stay in my room for five hours with my cat," she answered.

"All right. Deal. Let's go then."

"Where is she?"

"New Orleans."

"So not too far away then."

"No. A couple hours by plane."

"Are you going to tell Barney?" Emily asked. Lee hesitated. Then, he made his decision.

"No."

...

Josh had been doing his homework and doing it well. He was stationed in a hotel room a few blocks away from _Runway_. He learned all about Emily Charlton and had forwarded the information on to Louis. It was obvious that Miss Charlton had a tail, though. Josh saw the man in the park sitting on the bench across from the magazine building often. He sat in other places too, but he was always there during the day. He was quite certain it was the same man who had pulled her out of the room back in Paris. In fact, he was very certain. Facial recognition had told him so, but he hadn't been able to get a name. He couldn't find the other man, either. It was as though they both were ghosts. It made him curious as to who these people really were.

"You want me to move in?" Josh asked over the phone.

"No," Louis answered. "Not yet. I think they're using her as bait."

"That is blatantly obvious," Josh agreed. "This girl is simply an assistant. She has no background in anything remotely to do with CIA or any other agency."

"You're positive?"

"Very."

"I suspect Barney Ross is behind this."

"Barney Ross?" Josh asked, surprised. "What makes you think that?"

"Because my friend and partner, Conrad Stonebanks, has told me all about Barney and his gang of Expendables. Plus, Barney was at the gala in Paris according to Conrad's source, who confirmed his identity when I showed him the security footage. They were smart to enter my party separately, but I will get the rest of his team in a matter of time."

"So what do we do about the girl?"

"I think we continue on with our original plan and see what goes from there," Louis said.

"You're sure?"

"I'm positive."


	6. Chapter 6

**It's another long chapter, but I didn't want to break it into two chapters. It's got some fun scenes near the end. Happy reading!**

* * *

Lee checked them into a hotel room once they landed in New Orleans. He was feeling nervous about seeing Lacy. He knew she was angry, and he had no idea what her reaction to him was going to be.

"So what's your plan?" Emily asked.

"You stay here, and I go meet Lacy," Lee answered.

"Oh," she said, a little disappointed. She'd never been to New Orleans. She had been hoping to do some sightseeing.

"What, you thought you were coming on the date with me?" he asked, surprised.

"No. I thought maybe I'd at least be in the same building as you," she answered.

"Well, you thought wrong."

"I'm realizing that now. It's fine."

It wasn't fine. Emily knew that once he left, she'd go exploring on her own.

"Keep this on you," Lee said, handing her a gun. It was cold in her hand, and she shivered. She tucked it into her purse. "I doubt anyone is going to show up, but just in case."

"Have a good time," she said as he got ready to leave.

"I'll be back later," he replied, ignoring her comment. He didn't know how to respond to it anyway. Emily gave a small smile as he left. She counted to fifteen before going to open the door and see him get into an elevator. She waited, and then she followed him.

...

Lee found Lacy sitting at a small table in the corner of the bar. He walked over to her, still feeling nervous. She looked up at him as he approached.

"Hi," he said.

"It takes the threat of ending our relationship to make you show up?" Lacy countered. He sat down across from her.

"I was trying to get away long before that," he assured her. "I'm here now. Let's not fight."

"I don't get it, Lee. We've been dating for a few months, but I've barely seen you. I'm not sure I want this kind of relationship."

"I've got some down time coming soon. I promise," Lee said. "We can spend a lot more time together."

Lacy surveyed him carefully. Lee felt bad for not telling her what his job was, but he didn't think she needed to know. He reached for her hand, and she let him take it. This was a good sign. At the same time, her touch did not ignite him in the way he had been hoping. He wondered what that meant.

"How long are you here for?" she asked.

"Til Sunday."

"Then we better make up for lost time."

...

Emily stepped into the now crowded bar and saw Lee sitting with a woman in the corner. She instantly went the other way to avoid them, but she sat where she could still see Lacy. The woman was pretty, Emily would give her that.

"Want something to drink?" a waitress asked her.

"Sure," Emily nodded. She ordered a beer. This always surprised her friends as much as her having a cat did. Everyone assumed Emily liked the girly type drinks when in fact she preferred beer. After the waitress brought it back to her, Emily sipped on the bottle and watched Lee and Lacy. She wasn't sure what she was feeling. Curiosity? Jealousy? Wistfulness? All the above? Emily didn't have a boyfriend. Emily didn't really date all that much. She had no time to do that with work. She knew she was getting older, though, and if she was going to have a family of any kind, she should start thinking about it now. This had been on her mind a lot lately, and she hated that it consumed most of her thoughts.

Lee and Lacy stood up then, and Emily quickly turned to hide herself. She had a feeling she knew where they were going. For some reason, this caused a rock to form in her stomach.

...

Lee did not miss Emily sitting in the bar. He felt annoyed that she didn't listen to him and stay at the hotel.

"Call a cab," he told Lacy outside. "I dropped my wallet inside. I'll be right back."

"Okay," she nodded. She let go of his hand reluctantly, and Lee went back inside. He approached Emily from behind.

"What are you doing?" he demanded. Emily sheepishly turned to look at him.

"I'm having a beer," she answered.

"You were supposed to stay at the hotel."

"I know, but I don't get to go out much, and I'm not wasting a Friday night sitting alone in a hotel room while you get to go off and have fun."

"This is not part of the plan," Lee said.

"I'll be fine, Lee. I've got your gun thingy, and I'm in here with a bunch of people. Just go."

Lee didn't say anything else before he went over to the bartender.

"Hey, Scott," he said.

"Hey, man! Long time no see. How are ya?" Scott asked. They shook hands.

"Just fine. Can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure."

"See that woman over there?"

Scott peered to look. Emily was watching them, confused.

"Yea?"

"Can you make sure nobody strange approaches her? She's my cousin and insisted on going out, but I have somewhere I gotta be. She thinks she will be fine on her own, but I just want to make sure someone's looking out for her," Lee explained.

"You got it. I'll keep an eye on her," Scott promised.

"Call me if something happens."

"Will do. I got this, buddy."

"Thanks," Lee said, clapping Scott's arm and going back over to Emily.

"You got me a new babysitter. Imagine that," Emily commented.

"Don't move from this chair," Lee ordered, pointing his finger at her face. "I'll be back in a couple of hours."

"That long? Wow," Emily said. Lee shot her a look, but she just smiled and sipped her beer.

"Don't move," he said again.

"I won't," she promised. Lee felt conflicted for about ten seconds, but he knew that if he didn't go with Lacy, it was probably over between them. What was strange was the fact that he had a thought of just staying and having a beer with Emily. It seemed a lot more appealing than potentially facing an argument. He cleared his thoughts quickly. He didn't want to be thinking thoughts like that. He did like Lacy. Emily annoyed him enough, but she also had this ability to tug at his mind and emotions. He wasn't sure why. He didn't say anything else as he exited the bar and found Lacy.

"Find it?" she asked. "Took you long enough."

"Yea. Someone had already taken it to Scott. We got chatting. Sorry," Lee answered. He didn't miss the edge in her voice, though. What he didn't know was that Lacy had also seen him talking to Emily, and she wanted to know why, but she was going to save it for later.

"All right. Let's go," she gestured. They got into the cab, and Lee gave the bar one last look before they drove off. For whatever reason, he couldn't get the image of Emily sitting there alone out of his head.

...

Emily watched the bartender until he got busy with a swarm of customers. Knowing he wasn't watching her, she slid off her stool, left some money on the table, and slipped out the door. She did not need a damn babysitter. She was going to explore a little bit and then go back to her hotel room. She was an adult for crying out loud. Night life on the streets was picking up, and Emily people watched as she walked. It always fascinated her what others did when they thought no one was watching.

She was walking past a tattoo parlor when a voice spoke.

"You alone, little lady?"

A man stepped out from the shadows, approaching her. Emily panicked a little. He was very tall and scary looking. His pale skin reflected the light from the lampposts. She reached into her bag for Lee's gun.

"No. My friend is joining me," Emily lied.

"Right," the man laughed. "Why don't we go for a drive?"

"N-No. I'm good," she shook her head. He took a step towards her, and she pulled out the gun, aiming it at him.

"Now that's hot," he laughed.

"Stay back," she ordered. She went to fire a warning shot, but the gun simply clicked. She looked at it, confused.

"My friend can fix that for you," the man went on. He was a lot closer to her now, and Emily was panicking. He grabbed her arm, making her scream.

Then, a loud gunshot went off, making the man release her and Emily shriek.

"The lady said no," a voice said.

"Yea, yea, we're cool," the man said, backing off. Then he ran away. Emily saw an older man with tattoos and silvery, shoulder length hair standing there holding a shotgun.

"You all right?" he asked her.

"Yea."

"It's not a good idea to be wandering around here alone."

"I've noticed."

"Why don't you come inside while we call you a cab to take you back where it's safe?" he suggested. Emily hesitated.

"How do I know you're not going to do something to me?" she asked.

"Because I'm a gentleman," he replied. "The name's Tool."

"Emily," she said.

"Pretty name," he noted. "Come on. I promise to keep my distance."

Emily felt a bit crazy, but she also had this feeling she could trust Tool. She went inside, and as promised, Tool kept his distance. He called for a cab, and he watched her look around as they waited for it to come.

Emily noticed pictures on the wall, and she went to look at them. She instantly recognized Barney, Lee, and the rest of the team. She turned to Tool.

"You know Lee?" she asked.

"You know him?" Tool countered.

"I do. Just recently."

"I see. Does he know you're here?"

"He thinks I'm at a bar," she answered truthfully.

"Right. I know Lee would never let you wander around here unaccompanied. He's also a gentleman," Tool chuckled. "Where is he?"

"He's with Lacy."

"Ah, yes. Her."

Emily noticed his tone regarding Lacy, and she felt a sense of triumph that she wasn't the only one who didn't like Lacy.

"Now hang on a minute. Aren't you supposed to be in New York?" Tool questioned, realizing who she was suddenly. Emily stared at him.

"How did you...?"

"Barney talks to me," Tool answered. "Does he know you're both here?"

"No."

"Hmm," Tool said. Emily felt bad for Lee then.

"It was my idea to come here," she said quickly. "It's not Lee's fault."

"He shouldn't have gone along with it. His head is not on straight cos of that woman, who, in my opinion, is not his type."

"Please don't tell Barney," Emily begged. "I don't want Lee to get in trouble."

"Cab's here," Tool said, seeing it through the door. He went to open the door for her.

"You won't tell, right?" she said again as she went to pass him.

"I'm not going to lie if he asks," Tool answered.

It would have to do. Emily knew he at least wasn't going to bring it up if Barney didn't ask.

"Thank you," she said. She got into the cab, and it took her back to her hotel room. She settled in for a long night alone.

...

Lee's phone rang when he was in the middle of kissing Lacy. It rang three times before he broke away to answer it.

"Lee," Lacy said, exasperated.

"I'm sorry. I have to get this," he said, seeing it was Scott. He felt panicked suddenly. What had happened to Emily?

He went to the other room to answer. He knew Lacy was annoyed with him. He knew he was on thin ice here.

"Scott?" he asked. "What happened?"

"She's gone, man. I got busy and took my eyes off of her for five seconds, and she split."

"Shit. Are you sure she's not in there somewhere?"

"She's not. I'm sorry."

"Thanks for trying," Lee said. He hung up then. He should have known Emily wouldn't stay put. He went back to Lacy, and she was all put back together, which was a big sign Lee was not getting any further with her that night.

"What are you...?" he started.

"I'm just not feeling it, Lee," she answered. "I haven't for a while. I think we need some time apart."

"All we have is time apart," Lee commented.

"And clearly it's more important than being here with me," she said, gesturing to his phone in his hand. "Was that the woman from the bar?"

"What?" Lee asked, noticing then that his wallet was in her hands, and he felt his heart sink.

"Didn't think I'd find out about her, did you?" she asked.

"It's not like that," Lee answered. He had put the photo of Emily in there until he had the chance to put it back in her album. For some reason, he kept forgetting to do it.

"Sure it's not. She's in your wallet, Lee. I'm not even in your wallet," Lacy pointed out.

"It's my cousin," Lee tried. "She sent all of us the same photo. I just haven't put it in an album yet."

"You're a terrible liar."

Lee almost laughed at the irony of this. She had no idea what his job was.

"And you had no right going through my stuff," he countered. Again, irony. He had gladly gone through Emily's stuff. He knew he shouldn't have, and he knew now how she must have felt.

"I had my suspicions, especially after I saw you talk to her tonight."

"I told you, I wasn't cheating..."

"Get out, Lee."

"I'm not lying to you, Lacy."

"It's over, Lee," Lacy said strongly now. "I can't trust you, and you're never here anyway, so this isn't going to work. Just go."

Lee was frustrated then, but he knew she meant what she said. It was over. The truth was, though, that he hadn't really been feeling it tonight either, not like he had before. He had been trying to keep something alive that wasn't there anymore, as hard as that was to admit. Emily's photo in his wallet definitely did look bad on top of him talking to her where Lacy could see him, so he couldn't really blame her. Maybe this was for the best. Maybe Barney was right after all, she wasn't the girl for him.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Goodbye, Lee," Lacy said firmly and a little coldly. He put his shirt back on and grabbed his wallet from where she tossed it as well as his keys from the dresser. As he left Lacy's building, he felt angry at himself for being so stupid about that photo and also mad at Emily for taking off. Why had she disobeyed him for a second time? He tried calling Emily, but it went straight to voicemail. His phone rang then, and he saw it was Tool. He froze. Why was Tool calling him?

"Yea?" he answered.

"I sent your girl back to her hotel room," Tool said. "You really shouldn't let her wander around here alone."

"She was supposed to stay put. I can't help it she didn't listen to me," Lee said angrily.

"Things not go well with the missus?" Tool asked, figuring it out.

"You could say that."

"You're better off, man."

"Emily's back at the hotel you said?" Lee interrupted.

"Should be by now."

"All right. Thanks."

He hung up and hurried to find a cab himself.

...

Emily was on her bed on her stomach and reading a magazine with her feet in the air when Lee came into the room. She looked up at him, and he was giving her a dirty look.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"This doesn't look like the bar," he answered.

"No. It's a hotel room," she said. "Good job, Sherlock."

"You really don't like listening to me, do you?"

"I'm not a fan of being told what to do, no," she shrugged. She went back to her magazine. Lee came over and yanked it from her. She got up to her feet then.

"You could have been seriously hurt," he said.

"I wasn't," she reasoned.

"You could have," he said again.

"Are you worried about me?" she asked.

"It's my job to worry about you," he retorted. As she looked at him, he was realizing that even if she wasn't a job, he'd probably still worry about her.

"You didn't seem too worried when you were with Lacy," she pointed out.

"This was your idea to come here in the first place," he argued.

"Yes, it was, but I didn't think I'd be chained to this room or to one bar while you were doing your thing," she said. "I'm an adult. I lived my life just fine before you came along."

"You weren't on a hit list before," Lee pointed out.

"I'm starting to think I'm not since nothing has happened," Emily shot back.

"In the morning, we are going back to New York," Lee told her, changing the subject.

"Things didn't go well with Lacy?"

"No because I got a phone call saying you were gone from the bar. Then Tool called me and told me you were here. Lacy didn't take kindly to me doing work stuff while we were together." He left out the bit about the photo of Emily in his wallet. She didn't need to know that.

"I'm sorry I messed it up for you," Emily said. She didn't feel too sorry, though.

"She said it's over, so it's over," he finished. "I knew better than to think this could work anyway, not with my job."

"I'm sorry," Emily said again a little more forcefully. Lee relaxed his face a little then. He knew it wasn't her fault. It was his.

"It's not your fault," he told her. "This was a bad idea, and I shouldn't have even tried it."

He handed her back the magazine and went to the bathroom then, shutting the door behind him. Emily stood there, listening to the shower start to run. What surprised her was the small thought of going in there and joining him. What was happening to her? She shook her head to rid herself of the thought and the image. Lee was so not her type. She knew that. She sat back down and looked at the magazine in her hands. After a moment, she decided to go for a swim in the pool downstairs. She needed to cool off. She got changed and grabbed a towel. She put a robe on over her swimsuit.

"Lee?" she called through the door.  
"Yea?"

"I'll be down at the pool."

"All right."

Emily left without thinking much of anything. It was after eight, but the pool was quiet. She was grateful for that. Swimming had been one of her coping tools growing up. She always got lost in the motions and rhythm of it. Now, she just needed to clear her head.

...

Almost an hour later, Lee made his way down to check that she was still there. He found her swimming laps hard and fast. He stood at the edge of the pool, watching.

"How long have I been in here?" Emily asked, stopping and treading water once she saw him.

"Just an hour," he answered.

"Time always goes by so quickly when I'm in the water," she said. "It felt like ten minutes to me."

"You can keep going," he encouraged. "I just came to check in." He turned to leave then.

"Wait," she called. "You don't swim?"

"Not if I don't have to," he answered. He'd had his fair share of falling into the water while in a moving vehicle, while trying to get away from a bomb, or if someone was shooting at him and had him cornered at the edge of a lake/ocean.

"That's too bad," she commented.

"Why's that?"

"It's good exercise," she answered.

He laughed. Of course it was.

"I get plenty of exercise running around after bad guys," he assured her. He stood, arms crossed as she began to swim again. After two laps, she got out. Lee did his best not to stare at her, but he couldn't help it. Her black bikini really didn't hide much. His brain registered the top of a tattoo on her inner left hip. So that's where it was.

"I always love how my limbs feel after a good swim," she said, toweling off her hair as she approached him slowly. "Tired but tight and used, you know?"

"Uh huh," he nodded. She was standing right in front of him now. All thoughts of Lacy were suddenly gone. He blinked. What was happening here?

"You look sad," she noted.

"Just disappointed," he corrected. "And really, it's probably for the best anyway."

"Hmm," she said.

"So, uh, what's this?" he asked, resting his index finger on the top of her tattoo. Up close it resembled the top of a rose. When it seemed he was going to get a proper look at it, Emily took a step backwards, feeling burned almost. Since when were they that comfortable in their relationship to just randomly touch each other? At the same time, though, she had greatly enjoyed it.

"Nothing that concerns you," she answered. Her face still went red, though.

"I believe I return the favor of mocking your skin art," he went on, smirking at her. "Come on, what is it?"

"Not if you don't see it, you don't, and it's nothing," she replied. She had to change the topic and fast. "Can I borrow your phone?"

"Uh, sure," he agreed, pulling it out of his pocket and handing it to her. He was trying to figure out this odd request when she took him completely off guard and shoved him into the pool. Lee yelped as he landed in the water. He could hear her laughing even though he was submerged in the water. He broke the surface, coughing and spluttering.

"What the actual hell?!" he shouted.

"You could really use some fun in your life, especially right now," she shrugged. "I took your phone off you first so it wouldn't get wet. I'm not a total moron."

He got to the edge and went to pull himself up when she bent down in front of him, putting a hand on his head and pushing him back down.

"Seriously, have some fun," she said. Lee looked up at her, and he realized there was something there, a twinge. He wasn't imagining it. But, how could this be? He had just been kissing Lacy. He felt confused.

"By myself?" he asked sarcastically.

"Of course not," she answered. She jumped in then, splashing him. She tread water close to him.

"How good of a swimmer are you?" she asked. "Think you can beat me?"

"Not like this," he retorted. "I'm in pants and boots for Pete's sake."

"So take them off," she replied. Somehow, he knew she was going to say that. Wondering what the hell he was doing, he went under to remove his boots, socks, and pants. He tossed them out when he was done. He removed his shirt next. He wished he had actual swim shorts instead of boxers, but they'd have to do.

"Are you done, Nancy boy?" she asked.

"All right," he said, splashing her and making her laugh. "Are we doing this or not?"

"You're gonna regret it," she mocked. "You haven't seen my swim medals, have you?"

"Put your money where your mouth is," he ordered.

"To the end and back," she instructed. "Loser has to do whatever the winner says."

"Like what?"

"I'm not telling. Where's the fun in that?" she scoffed. Lee couldn't help but crack a grin at this.

"There it is," she grinned back. "I knew you had it in you."

"Stop yammering and bring it, woman," he ordered. They were at the end of the pool now, getting ready to go.

"Okay, okay," she said. "Such a whiner. Geez. Now!" She shoved off. Lee was seconds behind her. He was surprised at just how fast she was. Maybe she wasn't bluffing about the medals. The more he thought about it, the more he vaguely recalled seeing some medals on her desk in her room.

"You seem a little out of breath there," she commented when they finished. Of course, she had finished first, but not by much.

"You cheated," he pointed out.

"How?"

"You pushed off without giving me a warning."

"You wanna do this again?"

"I do. It has to be a fair contest."

"All right then, smarty. You count down."

Of course, Lee cheated back. The thing was, she still won.

"How?" he asked after.

"I'm just that much better," she smirked. He made her do it three more times, and she beat him every time.

"This is getting really embarrassing for you," she commented as he huffed out of breath after their last race. He couldn't believe she wasn't even panting. He didn't know what possessed him to, but he reached and shoved her head under the water. She popped back up immediately, shocked. He started to laugh.

"Sore loser much?" she asked. He went to shove her again when she dodged him.

"You had it coming," he told her.

"How so?"

"You're the one who wanted me to have fun," he answered.

"Well, since you lost...five times I might add...you have to do whatever I say," she said. Lee felt something in his lower stomach then, but it wasn't unpleasant. It actually surprised him.

"Fine," he sighed. He watched as she pulled herself out and found her towel again. He followed suit, and she tossed him her towel as she put her robe back on. He wrapped the towel around his waist and picked up his clothes and boots and phone before they walked out together.

"What are you going to make me do now?" he asked as they entered their room. She didn't answer right away and instead went to get changed. Lee did so as well, and then he waited for her. She emerged wearing a white tank top that showed off her waist and black jeans. Lee briefly wondered what she was doing, dressing like that.

"Come on," she said, gesturing after finishing putting her wet hair into a tight bun. They went back out to the hall, and she walked them down a floor. As they emerged from the stairs, Lee was really wondering what she was doing now.

"Ever played Nicky Nicky Nine Doors?" she asked mischievously.

"Oh no," he said. "Not that. No way."

"You shouldn't have lost then," she shrugged. "A deal's a deal. You'd make me do it if roles were reversed."

"Fine," he said, knowing she was right. He wondered how many hours of torture he'd have to go through for failing to be a better swimmer than her.

"This door and this one," she said, pointing to two doors that were right across from each other. "Knock hard."

Lee felt a laugh building because this was ridiculous, but it was also sort of fun. He couldn't believe she was getting him to have fun so easily. He didn't normally do fun. He pounded on the first door then the second quickly, and then he ran for his life. Emily ran alongside him, and they went around the corner, stopping to listen.

"Whaddya want?" a voice asked.

"Nothing. You knocked on my door."

"I did not."

"Yes, you did."

"No, you knocked on mine."

Emily clapped a hand to her mouth to prevent her laugh from escaping.

"You're evil," Lee said to her, making her laugh into her hand even harder. He was sniggering himself, though.

"Come on," she said, taking his hand in hers and pulling him along after her. He was a little surprised at how easily she did this, but he was even more surprised at how easily he just went along with it. She soon started knocking on doors with him, and they ran laughing like hyenas as the hotel guests emerged confused and began bickering with the other guests across the hall.

"We better stop before we get discovered and kicked out," Lee said after a while.

"Fair enough," she agreed. The elevator opened, and there were two people inside. As they walked to it, she gave him another task to do. Lee couldn't believe how much of an imp she actually was, but he went along with it. A bet was a bet. They reached their floor, and Emily stepped out first.

"Sorry mates," Lee said, lighting up all the floors just as he exited.

"Aw, man, come on!" one shouted.

"Asshole!" shouted the other.

Emily laughed as she ran. Lee was right behind her.

"So what now?" he asked when they returned to their room. "And nothing else that's going to get me stabbed in return."

Paper football was born (although it probably already had been created by someone else), and Lee endured a lot of paper being flicked at his face as Emily shot it too hard (on purpose of course) through his makeshift goal post he'd made with his fingers.

"I'm curious," she said after a while.

"About?"

"What you would have made me do if I had lost," she finished. She looked at him and noticed his expression seemed different.

"Well, where's the fun in that?" he said. "As I was told earlier."

"Come on," she wheedled. "What was one thing you'd have made me do?"

"You really wanna know?"

"Yes!"

Then she paused. Did she? What _would_ he have made her do? She felt funny suddenly as he looked her in the eye.

"All right," he said. "I would have made you show me that tattoo."

Her hand instinctively covered where it was. Was he still thinking about that? She had felt embarrassed that he'd even noticed it.

"It's nothing," she dismissed.

"Oh, it's something," he argued. "You're awfully protective about it."

"I can assure you, it's not," she shook her head. It had been stupid, really. Her friends had gotten one, so she had too. She had chosen her hip because she hadn't wanted anyone to see it. She forgot that bathing suits revealed more than they should.

"Well, be glad I lost then," he smirked.

"I am," she nodded. Due to her lack of concentration from thinking about Lee looking at her tattoo, he got a goal past her.

"Oh, yea!" he hollered. Emily gave him a weak smile as he gloated. He had such a way of distracting her, but she knew he had no idea.

...

"How long is my punishment for losing going to go on?" he asked afterwards as they were lying on their backs on the hotel bed. Paper bits were everywhere around them and on the floor. Emily strongly contemplated telling him to kiss her, but she refrained. She didn't want to be his rebound girl. She just wished he wasn't so freaking hot lying there beside her. She cleared her throat and went in a different direction instead.

"After this last question."

"All right. What is it?"

"Do you wish you were with Lacy tonight instead of me?" Emily asked. The question took Lee off guard, but he realized that he hadn't thought about Lacy once since he and Emily had started horsing around with each other. This took him by surprise and made him question about what it meant.

"No," he answered truthfully, turning his head to look at her only to find she was already looking at him.

"You're free now," she said after a moment. Lee wondered why she had asked this question. She sat up and began getting ready for bed. Lee sat up but stayed sitting on the bed. What was going on here? She came back out and paused briefly as though she was considering something.

"Good night," she said, chickening out and crawling under the covers of the second bed. Lee felt puzzled. Had he answered wrong? Was he missing something? After a while, he heard her breathing change after a while, indicating she had fallen asleep. He lay back down on his bed on top of the covers, staring at the ceiling. He felt like he had disappointed her, but he didn't know how or why.

* * *

**If you have time to leave a review, it would mean a lot to me. **


	7. Chapter 7

Lee and Emily got back to New York the next morning, and Emily kept her chatting to a minimum. She knew he was confused, and she was just as confused herself. He had given her the right answer, that he had enjoyed being with her. Why, then, was it not making her feel better? He didn't bring it up, and she didn't either. Something had shifted between them, though. She felt it. Not long after they got home, she found him sitting at her table with a bunch of guns in front of him, cleaning them. She knew he was frustrated not only with her but with Lacy. He wasn't in the best of moods.

"Do you mind?" Emily asked, giving Lee a sharp look.

"What?"

"This is not a workbench," she went on. "This table is antique."

"Is that why it looks like it's going to fall over at any second?" Lee questioned with a smirk. She resisted kicking him.

"It's my grandmother's," she told him. A lump hit her throat then just thinking about her grandmother. She turned so Lee wouldn't see the tears coming. Her grandmother had survived World War II in England, and that table had miraculously survived a bomb hitting her grandmother's neighborhood along with her grandparents and her uncle (her mother hadn't been born yet). Her grandfather had died from an illness in 1993. Her grandmother had died about six years ago, and it still hurt. She wiped at her eyes as she bent to feed Jasper, who was sitting patiently in front of his food cupboard.

Lee sensed the change in the air, and he finished cleaning his one gun, loaded it, and gathered the rest from the table.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"It's fine," she replied. She adjusted her shirt and cleared her throat. "You done?"

"Yea."

"Good." She wasn't sure what she was going to do for the rest of the day. She knew she didn't want to be stuck watching him be cranky. Then her mood was ruined even further when she got the call to go into work. She was glad she wasn't still in New Orleans. Miranda would have her head for not being available.

"What for? It's Saturday," Lee said, not getting it.

"I have to put together some outfits for a shoot," she explained.

"And it couldn't wait?"

"No. It just came up, and it's being done on Monday," Emily said as she got ready to leave.

"But...Toll isn't there today," Lee said.

"I know."

"You'll be alone."

"Uh huh."

"That's not the point of this," Lee said, gesturing with his hand.

"So come with me then," she huffed, pulling her boots on.

"Won't your boss wonder why I'm there?"

"No one else is there, dumb dumb," she answered. "It'll just be me."

"That was uncalled for," Lee pointed out.

"Hurry up if you're coming," she said, exasperated.

"All right, all right," he sighed. He threw his boots on and followed her out the door.

...

Lee was bored out of his mind. He sat with his chin in his hand, watching Emily fuss over clothes. It was worse than shopping at the mall with a girlfriend. A hundred times worse.

"You can always leave," she said without looking at him. She could sense his thoughts.

"It's fine," he replied.

"No, it's not," she said, finally looking at him. "I would say by that expression on your face that you'd rather be shot or hit by a car."

"All right, so maybe I would," he agreed. "I don't get any of this."

"I don't expect you to," Emily shrugged. He stood then and went to join her, looking at the layout of clothes she had on the table.

"That doesn't look right to me," he said.

"Oh, and what would make it look right?" she asked. He looked around, spying something and going to bring it over.

"That's a bit better," he said. "But not entirely."

Emily stared. The belt he had grabbed was exactly what she was going to add to it next.

"What else then?" she asked, curious now.

"Are choker necklaces still in?" he questioned.

"Okay, now you're scaring me," she said, looking at him.

"What? Why?"

"Cos you're inside my bloody head!" she exclaimed. "You've picked two things I was going to pick next."

His expression was priceless. She thought he looked unsure of whether or not to laugh or be horrified.

"What have you done to me?" he asked.

"I haven't done anything!" she insisted.

"This is not good," he said. "I need to go to a shooting range right now. I've been around too much girly stuff lately."

"And a shooting range is gonna fix that," Emily said sarcastically.

"I'd love to see you try it," he scoffed.

"All right," she said. "When we're done here, we'll do your thing."

Lee was surprised she was agreeing to do it, but he didn't push it in case she changed her mind.

"Fine," he nodded. He was actually very curious to see how she could handle a gun.

"I'm almost finished," she promised. "I just have to set up the men's wear."

Lee groaned, but then he got an idea. He might as well get some type of enjoyment out of this torture.

"Try it on," he said to her. She paused, looking at him.

"What?"

"Don't you want to see what it's like on you before having it on models?"

"Um, no," she shook her head. What the hell was he doing?

"Come on," he urged. "What are you, shy?"

"I am not shy," she said firmly. "I just don't play dress up. I'm not a model."

"Yet you work in fashion," he pointed out.

"I'm not putting it on," she said flatly. Lee went over to her slowly, a smile on his face. "Wh-what are you doing? Lee, stop!" She ducked as he went to grab her.

"Come on," he said, laughing. "Try it on!" He caught her one arm and twisted her around, marching her back towards the clothes on the table.

"Lee!" she cried, starting to laugh herself. "No!"

She resisted a little as he stood behind her to keep her from running away.

"Okay, okay!" she caved. "But if I'm doing it, then you have to as well."

"What? I don't think so," he shook his head.

"It's only fair," she said, crossing her arms. He made a face in return. She then grabbed the grey fedora hat and plopped it on his head. "See? You look dapper already."

"I already look dapper without it," he replied.

"It's either you and me or not at all. That's my final offer," she said. Miranda would murder her if she knew Emily was dressing up with a strange man in her office. It suddenly became more appealing.

"All right," he agreed finally, wondering what the hell he was doing. She handed him the clothes, and he went to change. She changed quickly herself, wondering what was happening between the two of them. Had she done the wrong thing by opening the can of fun worms with him last night? She stood in front of the mirror, waiting for him to return.

"Do people seriously wear this?" he asked, making her turn around. She could barely contain her howl of laughter.

"People who aren't you," she replied after containing herself.

"How is this even a shirt?" he went on, standing beside her. "It's full of holes. What good is it?"

Emily appreciated how it showed off his muscles, though, not that she'd tell him that.

"How are the pants?" she asked, still keeping her giggles down.

"I feel like I have a permanent wedgie," he answered.

"Oh dear," she said, unable to keep her laughter down any longer. He gave her a look, but he started laughing himself. They both looked ridiculous.

"You're just missing a hair scrunchie, and you could be back in the nineties," he commented.

"Shut up," she said. She pulled at the skirt, wishing it would go lower.

"Seriously, how is this considered good?" he asked. She just shook her head.

"I only do what I'm told," she answered. "Are you happy now? We've both been humiliated."

"Very," he grinned. He disappeared to change back, and she did the same. She finished with the layouts for Miranda as Lee sat and spun in the office chair. Then it was time to go do his thing.

...

"Emily would just die if she knew you were here," Serena said as she pushed her hair out of her face.

"Then don't tell her," Toll suggested. They were lying side by side in her bed.

"She's my best friend. I can't not tell her," Serena insisted.

"Then just maybe wait a little?" he suggested. He felt like he'd died and gone to heaven. Serena had been chatting him up every day since he started. When she'd invited him to dinner the night before, he accepted. Then things got a bit...crazy. Good crazy, though.

"Are you gonna answer that?" she asked when his phone started vibrating. He saw it was Barney.

"Not right now," he answered. He figured Barney would kill him for doing this. He didn't need to know.

...

Barney frowned as he looked at his phone after trying to reach Toll. Where was he?

"I'm bored," Caesar complained.

"Me too," Gunner nodded. Since Emily had ditched her activities that required them to shadow her, they had nothing to do.

"Go and get out of my face," Barney ordered. They were driving him nuts.

"And do what?" Caesar asked.

"Figure it out."

Gunner didn't need any prompting. He left quickly with the intention of finding a good place to eat. Caesar ended up following him.

"How long do we do this?" Yang asked Barney once they were alone.

"Hopefully not much longer," Barney sighed. He was growing bored himself.

...

"Don't look so freaked out," Lee said as Emily aimed at the target. He'd gotten her into position stance wise and arm wise.

"I have never fired a gun before in my life," she told him.

"It's not a real person you're shooting," he pointed out.

"Maybe not, but just thinking of how a bullet kills someone makes me think about how dangerous this thing is that I'm holding," she said.

"You think a bit too much," he noted.

"Maybe so, but sometimes it's not a bad thing," she commented.

"I still say this is better than putting outfits together," Lee jested. She shot him a look.

"I don't see the fun in shooting a piece of paper," she retorted.

"You haven't tried it yet," he countered. "Don't knock it til you try it."

"Fine," she said, looking back at the target. She squeezed the trigger and promptly shrieked when the gun went off. Lee couldn't help himself, he laughed out loud. She whipped around to tongue lash him, and he ducked cos she had the gun aiming at him.

"Whoa, whoa," he said, moving to turn the gun away from him. "Don't point a loaded gun at me. I don't trust you wouldn't actually shoot me."

"I'd miss," she snorted. She pointed to the target. "See? I didn't even hit it."

"That's cos you jerked as you were shooting. You gotta hold still," he said, going in behind her to help her aim and keep steady. Emily's legs almost gave out at the feel of him behind her, his face right next to hers.

"Try now," he said.

She swallowed and did so. The bullet struck the lower part of the target.

"I actually hit it," she said, surprised.

"Keep going," he urged. He kept his one hand on her waist and the other on her shooting arm, and he was noticing he was feeling something for Emily that he was quickly realizing had always been there since the moment he'd first seen her in the hospital peeking at him when she thought he wasn't looking. It had gone dormant since he never thought he'd see her again, and then he'd met Lacy.

"My hand actually hurts," she said.

"That's because you've got a lot of tension in it while holding onto the gun. Loosen it up," he instructed. She obeyed, and the pain lessened a little. She hit center mass of the target the next shot.

"I'm gonna be better than you soon," she teased.

"Yea right," he snorted. She turned into him then, their faces very close together now. Her heart skipped a beat. He was looking at her, and she wondered what he was thinking.

Lee was thinking about kissing her and wondering if he'd get slapped for it. He resisted.

"Show me what you got then," she said.

"With pleasure," he replied, taking the gun from her hand. He stepped back from her, reloaded the gun easily and quickly, and turned to the target, unloading all the bullets into it. Emily felt the lingering heat from his skin on hers, and she was feeling a bit flustered. She covered it well, though, as he turned to give her the "whaddya think about that?" look.

"I have a little more confidence that you'll be able to protect me," she said, a smile on her lips.

"I didn't realize you had no confidence," he replied.

"I had some," she reasoned, to be fair.

"Come on," he said, handing the gun back to her. "More practice."

"Why?"

"Cos if something happens to me, I want you to be able to at least fire the gun at the guy trying to kill you," Lee said.

"Confidence level is dropping again," she said. He finally laughed.

"Just shoot," he said.

He found himself greatly enjoying her company that entire afternoon, just like he had when they were in New Orleans the night before.

...

"I can barely pick up this pizza," Emily said, wincing. Her arm was killing her from holding the gun that afternoon on top of her hand pain from being tense while holding it. She and Lee were sitting on the floor in her living room, their backs against the couch. It was a compromise since she didn't allow food on her couch, and Lee wanted to watch the game on TV.

"I'm not feeding it to you," Lee warned. "I don't get paid enough for that."

"Good to know, but I didn't think you were even getting paid to do this."

"Ha, ha," he scoffed. She was right, though. This was pro bono work.

He saw her only eat one slice anyway. He noticed she was rather picky about her food, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized she didn't really eat all that much in front of him. He nudged the box her way.

"I'll just eat the whole thing if you don't help," he reasoned.

"As tempting as it is, I'm not really that hungry," she replied.

"All right," he said, not buying it. They were quiet for a bit until Emily had the nerve to ask the question she wanted an answer to.

"Has Lacy contacted you?" she questioned. A shadow crossed his face, and she regretted asking it immediately. "I'm sorry. I was just curious."

"No," Lee answered. "She hasn't, and she hasn't answered me either. I think it's been made pretty clear." He had given it one last shot, but Lacy was flat out ignoring him. He knew that was a big indicator she wasn't going to speak to him ever again.

"I really am sorry. I know you liked her."

"Well, that's the thing," Lee said. "I did like her, but I know I will like someone else in the future. It's not the end of the world to me. I'm just a little disappointed is all."

"I'd be devastated, hiding in bed with kleenex," she said."If I had just gotten dumped."

"It was a mutual break up. I did not get dumped," Lee objected.

"You got dumped, Lee."

"Oh, come on."

"It's okay to be dumped. It happens to the best of us," she assured him.

"So you've been dumped?" he asked.

"Me? No," she shook her head.

"Really," he said.

"Really," she smiled. She didn't offer anymore than that. He shook his head, chuckling to himself. Jasper came along and crawled into his lap, which didn't surprise him. Ever since their banishment to Emily's bedroom that day, the cat had grown on him a little. He stroked the cat's fur absently, feeling the rumbling of the purr under his fingers.

"He likes you," Emily noted. "That's rare. He normally doesn't like anyone but me."

"Must be a good sign," Lee said, looking at her.

"Yea, I think it is," she agreed. She felt her face go a little red as he kept looking at her, but then he turned his attention back to the game. Emily wondered what was going on with her that was causing her to feel like this. It was unusual. Without really thinking, she reached for a second piece of pizza. She didn't catch Lee's smile as he saw her do it in his peripheral.

...

That night, Emily awoke to sounds of muffled shouting. She felt frightened. Had Louis finally come? She got out of bed carefully and grabbed her alarm clock, yanking it out from the plug in the wall. It was better than having no weapon at all, she figured. She opened the door and peeked out. She didn't see or hear anything, so she stepped into the hallway carefully, alarm clock raised in the air above her head.

"Move," Lee was saying. "MOVE."

She frowned. Who was he talking to? She could definitely tell there was no one in the apartment now, and she saw Lee thrashing on the couch. She gathered that he was having a nightmare. She stood, watching. What could she do? She didn't want to embarrass him, but he also looked like he was having a terrible nightmare, and she didn't want to leave him to suffer. She set down the alarm clock on the counter, turned on the one light so she could see, and padded over to him, sitting on the edge of the couch by his waist.

"Lee," she said, poking him. Nothing. "Lee."

His face was twisted like he was in pain. Emily definitely wanted to wake him up now.

"LEE!" she shouted, grabbing his shoulders. He jolted upright, grabbing her sides under her arms and squeezing tightly. Emily yelped in pain from his grip on her ribs and let him go.

"What? WHAT?!" he yelled, searching with his eyes and feeling anxious suddenly. Then he finally saw her and relaxed.

"You...you were having a nightmare," she said weakly. "It looked bad. I...I just wanted to wake you up from it."

"You scared me," he replied. "Don't do that."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. He released her and rubbed his face with his hands roughly. Then he sighed and looked at her.

"That bad, huh?" he asked.

"It looked that way," she nodded. He nodded back. Nightmares were not new for him. This one had been about her, though, and it had not been good. He'd been too late. The image of her dead was in his mind every time he shut his eyes, and it made him sick.

"I'm sorry I woke you," he said after a moment.

"It's okay."

She wanted to make him feel better. He was sitting there looking at her, and she had no idea what possessed her to do what she did next. She moved in to hug him, and he was taken aback by the gesture but didn't stop it. He hugged her back and closed his eyes. It felt like home almost, and he wasn't sure what that meant to him.

"I'm sorry you're so tormented," she said after a moment. She moved to kiss his cheek when he turned his head. The shock from the contact with his lips instead of his cheek made her pull back quickly.

"Wait," he said, catching her before she jumped up.

"I didn't...that wasn't..." she started, but he put his hands on each side of her face, making her stop talking. What was happening here? He was looking at her intently, and she couldn't believe it when he moved in to kiss her properly. She felt like she was going to actually melt. Her brain was devoid of any and all other thoughts until it finally caught up to her and what she was doing. She pulled back before it got anymore intense than it already was.

"This isn't a good idea," she said, even though she disagreed with her own statement. She had to use logic here. Lee was vulnerable because of Lacy and because of her comforting him. This wasn't real. But...was that disappointment in his expression?

"No, you're right," he agreed, clearing his throat. He took his hands back, and she wished he hadn't. Then again, she knew this really wasn't a good idea.

"Um, I'm just gonna..." she trailed off, gesturing with her thumbs that she was going to leave. He didn't say anything else as she got up and went back to her bedroom, shutting the light off on the way. She crawled into her bed and wondered what the hell had just happened.

Lee couldn't fall back asleep. He was just as stunned as Emily was by that kiss. What had possessed him to do it? He knew it wasn't a good idea. It was a terrible idea. Barney had warned him to not do such a thing. Lee hoped he hadn't wrecked the rapport he had been building with Emily. He hoped things wouldn't be weird or awkward between them now. He pressed the palm of his hand into his face, mentally chastising himself for being such an idiot. Only time would tell if things would be different now.

**A Few Days Later**

Emily got ready for work and did her best to not think about Lee. She'd been thinking about him way too much since their weekend fun and their kiss, and she didn't want to because she didn't want to read more into it than she should. She figured Lee was still trying to get over Lacy anyway, and his kissing her was a rebound type thing. She didn't want to be his rebound. She wished she hadn't woken him up. Things were a bit different between them now since, and she hated that, but she didn't know how to make it normal again. She knew he sensed it because he was extra polite and distant with her just like she was with him. Now, he looked up when she passed him.

"I'm going to work. You might want to try sitting somewhere else today."

"Why's that?" he asked.

"Serena is noticing you're always sitting on one of the benches."

"Oh."

Of course. How stupid was that? He should have been moving around more often this whole time. He chastised himself for being sloppy.

"See you later," she said, going out the door. There was most definitely an awkwardness now, and he hated himself for creating it. After a few minutes, Lee left to follow.

...

Lee stayed in the rental car that day and sat in it outside of _Runway_. He found himself thinking about Emily again and how it felt to kiss her. He also kept thinking about their trip to the shooting range and how she had felt against him as he stood behind her to help her aim. He wondered if he had kissed her then if things would be different than they were now. His mind then wandered to the memory of her wearing that bikini and of her laughing face as they drove the hotel guests crazy with their pranks. Lacy popped into his mind a bit too, but he noticed that it didn't jab him as bad as it did before when he thought about their relationship being over. He knew he was crazy for trying to have a relationship with someone while keeping his work life secret. Or maybe it was something else, something he hadn't realized was still there. He caught sight of Emily walking with Serena then, and he noticed her looking for him. Living with Emily had been interesting. He was learning more about her each day, and as he watched her, he felt that twinge again that he'd felt the first time he'd met her in the hospital. He had been feeling it a lot lately, if he was honest. He was beginning to think that he might be falling for Emily, that he had fallen for her back then and had buried it until now. It would explain how he hadn't felt much the last time he'd been with Lacy. It would also explain his impulsive urge to kiss Emily the other night. Maybe that was the real reason he didn't try harder to make it work with Lacy. Maybe he knew all along it wasn't right. He pulled out Emily's photo again and looked at it. He still hadn't put it back, and he wasn't sure why.

...

"You should go out with Steve," Serena was saying. Emily couldn't see Lee anywhere, so she knew he'd taken her hint.

"No, I don't think so."

"He seems sweet."

"He's not my type."

"You say that about every guy," Serena complained. "Come on. There has to be somebody you like."

_There is_, Emily thought, _but it would never work._

"I'm just not into dating right now," Emily said out loud.

"How is Mei doing?" Serena asked, changing the subject. "Still keeping up with Miranda?"

"Seems to be. I have to admit, I'm a little impressed."

"Are you still looking for another job?" Serena asked in a hushed voice. You never knew if Miranda's people were listening in.

"I thought about it," Emily answered. "I just haven't found anything yet."

"You could talk to Nigel," Serena suggested.

"He might tell Miranda."

"I doubt it. Ever since Paris, he's kept his distance from her. I heard that he was standing right beside Miranda when he got shot, and she didn't do anything to help him."

"I'll think about it."

"Ugh, these lunches are way too short," Serena complained as they went back inside. Toll was sitting there as usual. He smiled at them.

"Good walk?"

Emily didn't answer as she kept going to the elevator. Serena flirted with Toll every single day. It was really only a matter of time before she made her move, if she hadn't already. She'd broken up with her boyfriend the day after Toll started working there. She saw them still talking as the elevator doors closed, and her suspicions were confirmed when she saw Serena touch Toll in a way that indicated they were familiar with each other. Emily felt a little put out her friend hadn't told her, but she knew she would in time. She shifted on her feet as she waited. Where was Lee? What was he up to? Why was she thinking about him?

"Ugh, stop it," she told herself. The doors opened, and she stepped into the hallway and walked to her desk. She noticed Mei was almost excited looking when she got there.

"What is it?" she asked.

"You'll never believe this," Mei said breathlessly, "but Louis Theron himself is in there with Miranda right now!"

Emily felt very cold suddenly, and her stomach dropped. How had Louis gotten past Toll? How had he gotten past Lee? Miranda's door opened then, and Louis stepped out. She stifled her cry and swallowed hard. Louis had changed his appearance drastically. His hair was shorter and a different color, he was wearing a black fedora, and he had sunglasses on. Gunner had been right about one thing, though, he was definitely walking with a limp.

"Ah, this is the first assistant then?" Louis asked, looking at Emily with a smile on his face. Emily controlled her body as best as she could to prevent it from shaking.

"Yes, that is Emily," Miranda said, coming up beside Louis.

"If you ever want to loan her out, I'd be interested," Louis went on.

"Oh, I'm afraid she's not for rent or for sale," Miranda said smoothly. If Emily wasn't so terrified of Louis, she would have been outraged at being compared to a piece of property.

"That's too bad," Louis said. Emily just knew that he knew who she was. Why else was he here?

"Nice to meet you," she nodded.

"Likewise," Louis said, walking past her. He was alone. She wondered where his henchmen were. She pulled out her phone once Louis was out of sight and texted Lee.

...

Lee looked down at his phone and gave a start.

**Louis is here.**

"What?!" he exclaimed. He quickly called Barney as he headed towards the building.

"Yea?" Barney asked, answering.

"Theron is here."

"Excuse me?"

"Emily just said he's here."

Lee surged through the crowd, keeping an eye on the building. How had he gotten past him? How had he gotten past Toll? What the hell was going on? Sure enough, there was a limousine parked near the building. When had it gotten there?

"Is he alone?"

"I don't know."

"Find out."

"On it."

Lee hung up and texted Emily. She answered that he had been alone in the office, but she didn't know if he had anyone else waiting in the rest of the building. He went into the lobby of the building and spied Toll chatting with Emily's friend.

"Shit," Lee said. Toll had been distracted. He jerked his hand to get Toll's attention.

"Oh, hang on. I gotta deal with this guy," Toll said, excusing himself from the woman.

"Call me," she said, leaving finally.

Toll came over to Lee casually.  
"Why are you in here? You'll blow your cover," Toll said.

"Theron is in this building right now, you git," Lee snapped. "How did you miss him?!"

"Theron is here?!"

"Yes!"

"I...I was there all morning! I swear! Oh..." Toll said, trailing off.

"Oh? What 'Oh?'" Lee demanded.

"I used the washroom, and I had to wait because it was being cleaned," Toll said. "You don't think..."

"That Theron used that time to sneak in here? Yes, I do," Lee said.

"How did you miss him?" Toll asked accusingly.

"I don't know," Lee admitted. They heard the elevator ding, and Lee turned his back to it and pulled out his phone quickly, pretending to be talking on it. Toll strolled back to his post. He saw a man limp out, and he knew it was Theron. Lee kept his back to them until Theron had exited the building, but he took some pictures with his phone as best as he could as Theron walked past. After a few minutes, Lee went back over to Toll.

"He looks a hell of a lot different than the last time we saw him," Lee muttered. "That's how we missed him."

"Yea, but...still," Toll said, feeling frustrated that he had failed. What if Emily had been hurt? He'd never forgive himself.

"Have we been made?" Lee asked quietly.

"I don't know," Toll answered truthfully. "He didn't look at me or you."

"Doesn't mean he doesn't know we're here," Lee commented.

"I'll let Barney know about Theron's new look."

"What happens now?" Toll asked. Lee sighed.

"I have no idea."

* * *

**I hope someone is still enjoying this story. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

Lee went to talk to Barney in person. Toll agreed to stay behind and keep an eye on Emily. Barney answered the door after their code phrase, and he stared at Lee.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be watching Emily?"

"Toll's got her for now. Look, how did Theron get in there without us noticing?" Lee asked. "How did he even get into New York without us noticing? I thought Yang was watching flights?"

"He must have come into a different airport and then drove here," Yang said. "I do my best."

"Do we have eyes on him?" Barney asked. Yang was looking at his screen.

"His limo has stopped at a private airport. He's leaving..." Yang said, confused.

"What the hell is going on?" Lee demanded. "What is he doing?"

"He's showing us how easy it was for him to get to Emily. It's a warning," Barney said. "He knows she's got someone watching her, and he is proving to us that it doesn't matter. Yang, monitor that plane."

"I can try. It's a private jet with high tech security...much harder to hack into."

"Try."

"Okay."

"So what now?" Lee asked. "What is the point of us being here then?"

"We have to tighten our security on her," Barney answered.

"We can't go much tighter," Lee said, incredulous.

"Well, Theron duped us today, so obviously it needs to get tighter, or maybe someone needs to get focused," Barney said, looking at Lee.

"Excuse me?"

"How was your little trip to New Orleans?" Barney asked. Lee's face gave away his surprise. "Didn't know I knew about that, huh? Yang isn't just watching for Theron on flights, you know."

"It was Emily's idea. She said she didn't want me to lose..."

"I don't care whose idea it was," Barney cut him off. "It was stupid, and you almost lost her. I got the rest of the story from Tool. He had to rescue her from a maniac on the street."

Lee swallowed. Emily had not told him that part, and neither had Tool. He felt really bad then.

"You have got to get your head back in the game, Lee, or else something really is going to happen to Emily," Barney warned.

"All right," Lee nodded. "We done here?"

"One last question."

"Go for it."

"Are you getting too close to Emily?"

The question caught him off guard. Did Barney somehow know what he had done?

"Um...no," he answered, shaking his head.

"Cos if you are, then I need to pull you out. You can't get emotionally involved with her. It will compromise your ability to protect her."

"I'm not," Lee said more forcefully this time. The thing was, though, that he was lying.

"Good."

Lee turned to leave without another word. He should have known Barney would have been watching him too. He clenched his fists as he made his way back to _Runway_. He was going to have to do a better job because he knew he'd never forgive himself if Emily got killed over his own carelessness.

...

"What was the point in this visit again?" Josh asked as the plane took off. Louis smiled.

"To show them they are not invincible."

"They're probably tracking this plane..."

"They can try. It's high tech...I made sure of that."

"Do you think she suspects anything?"

"No," Louis shook his head. "She has no idea what's about to hit her."

...

Emily was surprised to see Lee waiting in the lobby for her at the end of the day. Toll gave her a nod as she passed.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Tightening security," Lee answered. "Let's go."

Emily didn't object as they left together and got into his rental car. Lee didn't say anything about Theron on the drive. She wanted to ask, but she didn't want to get into it in the car. Once they were back to her apartment building, she dared to bring it up.

"Where is he?" she asked.

"He flew out of here right after," Lee answered. "Yang's trying to track the plane, but I doubt he'll be successful. Theron is too smart for that."

Emily couldn't get the image of Louis out of her head, the way he stared at her. Did he know she knew? She thought she had played her part well. Then again, she wasn't sure.

"If he can get to me with you two watching me, then I don't think it matters if you're here or not," Emily commented. Lee stopped short, making her bump into him.

"What?" she asked. He put his hand up to gesture silence. He pulled out his gun, and Emily quivered inside. She finally saw that her apartment door was open. Despite what she just said about it not mattering if he was there or not, she was very grateful he was in fact standing there with her in that moment. She clutched at his jacket, hiding behind him.

"It's not broken open," he murmured.

Emily's brain clicked into place, and she realized what was happening. She came out from hiding and reached to grab his arm with the gun in it's hand, and she forced it down.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"You go along with whatever I come up with, got it?" she asked. He gave her a confused look in return as she pushed the door open.

"Surprise!" a voice cried when Emily turned on the light. It was just as she expected. She was glad she had started making Lee hide his weapons.

"Liz, why can't you ever remember to close the door behind you? You'll let Jasper out," Emily said, exasperated.

"Jaspy isn't going anywhere," Liz assured her. "And is that any way to greet your older sister after all this time?"

Lee felt his stomach clench. Sister? Then he remembered her from the photo album.

"Right. Hello," Emily said, hugging her sister tightly. Elizabeth Charlton was a bit of a wanderer, but she always dropped in on Emily every so often.

"Um, who is this?" Liz asked, looking at Lee after realizing he was there. Lee was a 100 percent certain she would not fall for the "he's my cousin" routine.

"My boyfriend, Lee," Emily answered. "Lee, this is my sister, Liz."

Of course. Of course she'd say boyfriend. Lee put a smile on his face as he tried not to chuckle. At the same time, though, he felt that tingle again at being called her boyfriend. Barney's warning sounded in his mind then. He shoved it out.

"Nice to meet you," he said.

"Boyfriend?!" Liz gasped. "You date? Since when? You never date!"

"Shut up," Emily said, elbowing her.

"Mum will be ecstatic, especially since I straight up told her I was never getting married," Liz went on. "You better get some meat on your bones, though, if you're ever going to have a baby."

"Stop," Emily said forcefully. "We just started dating."

Lee stood back and couldn't help but smile. It was amusing to see Emily embarrassed.

"I'm serious, Em. Have you lost more weight since I've seen you last? I didn't think that was possible," Liz went on.

"Why are you here?" Emily cut her off. Lee realized he wasn't imagining the food thing then. It was an issue her own family saw.

"Can't a sister just come say hi for no reason?"

"There's always a reason."

"Not this time," Liz said. "I promise."

Emily gave her sister a long look before letting it go.

"I'm going to change. Don't interrogate him while I'm gone," Emily warned. She didn't want to leave them alone together, but she also needed to decompress from her scare that day. She was not in the mood for her sister. Not at all.

...

As soon as Emily was out of sight, Liz was on Lee in a flash. Taken aback, Lee fought her off as best as he could, but she pressed one of his own knives into his throat.

"Who are you really?" she asked quietly. "Don't lie. I've seen your weapons stash. Are you FBI? MI6? What's going on here?"

"I'll tell you when you tell me who you really are," Lee said. He could tell she had been highly trained.

"You never tell Em, got it? Never," Liz ordered.

"I won't."

"CIA," she said. "Your turn."

"Mercenary."

"I knew it," Liz said, releasing him. She had gone through his bag of weapons before they got there, noticing that some of them weren't exactly agency friendly. She tossed him his knife back. "Why are you here?"

"It's a long story."

"It has something to do with Louis Theron, doesn't it?" she asked. Lee was taken aback.

"How did you know?"

"Later," she said, giving Emily's room a meaningful look. "In the meantime, go along with her little game. She can't know I'm CIA or that I know why you're here."

"All right," he promised. He hid his knife away as Emily came back into view.

"I made dinner reservations," Liz said. "I wasn't expecting a third, but I can make it work."

"Oh, it's okay, really..." Emily tried. She didn't really want to go out.

"Come on. I see you barely once a year. It'll be great," Liz urged.

"Why not?" Lee chimed in. He saw Emily shoot him a look, but she didn't know what he knew. If Liz was CIA and able to get the drop on Lee, then she'd be able to look after Emily in public.

"I guess," Emily caved. Lee put his arm around her, giving the side of her head a kiss. It surprised him as much as it did her. He knew he was pretending, but it felt as genuine as his last kiss with her did.

"It'll be fun," he promised. He almost hoped there would be trouble just so he could see Liz in action.

...

"So how did you two meet?" Liz asked as she chewed on her steak. Emily was barely eating, something Lee was noticing more and more after their pizza night. He himself was devouring chicken wings.

"In the hospital," Emily answered truthfully.

"What?" Liz asked.

"When I got hit by the car," Emily said. "Lee was there too. He'd been jumped."

"Oh dear," Liz said, looking at Lee and knowing that wasn't the real reason he had been in the hospital.

"We just recently saw each other again a few weeks ago," Emily went on. "It went from there."

"Funny how life is," Liz said. Lee noticed that she looked at every single person who entered the restaurant. He was watching too, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Lee saw Liz take in Gunner, and she looked at him for confirmation that he was one of Lee's team members. His slight nod gave her the answer. Lee had given the update to Barney about Liz and what was going on, so he had sent Gunner to help out in case Theron had left a wild card around that might come after Emily.

"Yes," Emily agreed. On cue, Lee took her hand in his. She felt fuzzy inside at his touch. She hoped her sister was buying their ruse. It was pretty realistic so far. It was making her think about their kiss again, and she wondered if he would do it again in front of Liz.

"You should tell Mum," Liz urged.

"Soon," Emily said. There was no reason to get her mother involved in this. She noticed Gunner sitting by himself across the room, and for some reason, she felt a little safer knowing Lee's team was still keeping an eye on her from afar.

...

While Emily was getting ready for bed, Liz gave Lee a quick rundown.

"I heard what happened in Paris," she said. "You're part of Barney Ross's team, right?"

"Yea."

"We hired him to do this job. They sent me in to check out what was going on. I see you're using my sister to lure him out. Imagine my surprise to hear that she was involved."

"That just happened."

"Maybe so, but I don't like it."

"Barney didn't see another way to lure him out," Lee argued.

"Hmm, well...if you let anything happen to her, it's lights out for you, got it?"

"Loud and clear."

"Rumor has it Theron is in Spain after today. I'm going to be checking that out. I just wanted to see Em in case...in case something went bad," Liz said. She cleared her throat and clenched her hands.

"I promise you that your sister is not going to get hurt in this," Lee said quietly.

"It's not necessarily her I'm referring to," Liz replied. Lee understood. Their kind of job was dangerous, and Lee knew all too well the feeling that you might go on a job and never come home.

"You keep mentioning her weight," Lee said, remembering. He didn't know how to bring it up with Emily, so he thought he'd try with Liz.

"Em has always fussed with food since early teens. She almost got hospitalized once, but she got a bit better. I think her job makes her feel she has to be a stick, and I'm scared she is going to go downhill because of it."

"I see," Lee nodded.

"She doesn't like talking about it."

"Noted."

"All right," Emily said, returning then. Lee turned and scratched at his head while Liz beamed at her sister.

"Couch for me," she said. "Looks comfy as always."

"Um, yea," Emily said, realizing the predicament that caused. Either Lee feigned he had a different place or he feigned that he lived with her.

"I imagine you two are already at that step in your relationship," Liz said. "Don't mind me." She plunked herself down on the couch, crossed her feet, and turned on the television. Lee did not miss the look she gave him, which Emily could not see.

"I'll keep it on low," she promised. "I need it to sleep."

"Right," Emily said, remembering.

"Sleep well," Liz said to them both, winking. Lee had no choice but to follow Emily to her room. When she shut the door, they both looked at each other.

"This is awkward," she said.

"I've slept in worse places than the floor," he explained.

"I had no idea she was just going to show up here," Emily said apologetically. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

Emily went to give him a pillow and one of her extra blankets from the closet. Once they were both settled, Emily stared at the ceiling in the darkness. Some of the street lights shone through the cracks in her blinds, but not enough to light the room up. She could tell Lee was lying there awake too. Having him in her room was causing interesting feelings to arise in her, feelings she had felt when he'd kissed her before.

"Are you close with your sister?" Lee asked out of the blue, surprising her.

"Growing up we were," she answered. "I don't see her much as an adult."

"That's too bad."

Emily hesitated on whether or not she should voice her thoughts about Liz. In the end, she decided to.

"I've been thinking lately about her and her job. She never tells me what it is that she does, and she's gone all the time. After meeting you, I'm starting to think she's got a job like yours."

Lee was silent, which was curious to Emily.

"Lee?"

"I'm listening."

"Am I reading too much into it?" she asked.

"Maybe. Not everyone is like me." It was true. She was CIA, not a mercenary.

Emily wasn't sure what to make of this reply. She decided to just let it go.

"Is it true you don't date?" Lee asked.

This one caught her off guard.

"I don't have time."

"That seems like a poor excuse."

"I've just never found the right guy," Emily insisted. She was glad the semi darkness was hiding her blushing face.

"I hope you find him."

_I think I have,_ she thought. _I think it's you_.

"What made you decide to be a mercenary?" she asked, changing the subject.

Lee had to think about this question. No one really ever asked him before, so he didn't know how to answer.

"It just kind of happened. I was done with the SAS, and I didn't know what to do moving forward. Barney met me, and I joined his team. That's kind of it."

"Oh."

It was quiet for a bit after that. Lee couldn't help but feel she wanted to keep talking, and he discovered that he wanted to keep talking too. He felt close to her that night, like he had on the night he'd kissed her. It might have had something to do with holding her hand or pretending he was dating her, but he kind of felt it happening regardless of that.

"How did you end up in a fashion career?" he asked. He was curious after all.

"My grandmother made outfits for the ladies back in her day, and I loved spending time with her, learning how to sew and what looked good an what didn't in a dress or a blouse. I wanted to follow in her steps, but lately I feel like she'd be disappointed in me."

"Why's that?"

"Because I'm only an assistant. I'm not being creative. I'm not designing. I answer phones and get yelled at by a woman who terrifies everyone in the building. The closest thing I get to actual fashion work is what you saw me do the other day. Gran would not be happy to see me like this."

"You can always change jobs."

"I know. I just don't know where to start," Emily sighed. "And...and I might never get the chance to anyway." She felt very overwhelmed then, thinking about her grandmother and about Louis wanting her dead and how she was stuck working for Miranda probably for the rest of her life. She started to cry. It was silent at first until she started to lose control of it. She turned onto her side and buried her face into her pillow to muffle the sound.

Lee knew it was a terrible idea, but he never liked hearing a woman cry, especially when it sounded so anguished like hers did. He got up from the floor and sat on her bed, finding her in the dark and pulling her up into his arms.

Surprised as she was, Emily still wrapped her arms tightly around him and buried her face into his shoulder.

"It'll be all right," he told her.

"You don't know that," she said, pulling back. She was still sniffing back her tears. He grasped her face with his hands again, and she wondered if he was going to kiss her again.

"I promise you, Em, that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe. I won't let anyone hurt you," Lee said. Emily could just see in the semi darkness that his face was very close to hers. She had the sudden urge to just lean forward and kiss him the way he had done to her before, but she held back. The last thing she wanted was rejection, especially since she'd already told him before it was a bad idea.

"Okay," she finally said. She went to hug him again and held on. She wasn't quite ready for him to go back to the floor just yet.


	9. Chapter 9

Emily woke up the next morning with a foggy head. That usually happened after she got emotional and cried. As she gained focus of the room, however, she noticed someone had an arm around her and was lying behind her. She blinked. Then she remembered.

Lee was in her bed.

She stayed very still, not wanting to wake him and end it. She remembered how the night before he'd come to comfort her as she cried, and then she held onto him for what seemed like ages. When he had said he should get back to the floor, she had asked him to stay, and he hadn't argued. She closed her eyes again, recalling how his hands had felt on her face.

...

Lee had been awake for some time, but he hadn't moved. This feeling he was having while holding onto Emily was almost overwhelming. He didn't remember feeling like this with Lacy, which confused him. How was this different? The only difference he could think of was that they hadn't done anything to lead up to him holding her other than his comforting her last night. This version of holding her was somehow more intimate feeling than if he had been intimate with her beforehand. He didn't know what to do about it.

He could tell she was awake now too, and she wasn't moving either. Did she feel the same way? He pondered this for a while until she suddenly moved so that she was on her side facing him, their faces inches from each other. They looked at each other, and Lee was at a loss for words. He was seeing her very differently now. She wasn't just a job anymore. Then again, he realized she had always been more than that, and he'd been figuring that out in the last few days, especially since he'd kissed her.

"Hi," she whispered.

"Hey," he murmured back. She pressed her face against his then, her hand on his shoulder. He had just touched his lips to hers when the front door opening and shutting loudly interrupted everything. Lee instantly was up and heading out of the room. Emily hurried after him, wondering what was going on.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Liz is gone," Lee answered. He picked up the note she'd left on the table.

"She didn't even say goodbye," Emily said, disappointed.

"She explains why," he said, handing her the note. Their fingers brushed as she took it from him. She felt the electricity from it. Judging by his face, he did too. She skimmed the note from her sister, accepting that she had to leave suddenly for work. Emily was more and more convinced that her sister's line of work was not what she was meant to believe it was.

Lee's phone rang, and he went to answer it. Emily didn't know what to think, feel, or do now. She felt Lee's lips against hers still, and she wanted it to happen again very much. She couldn't help but feel irritated at her sister for ruining the moment, but she was also afraid of what her sister was getting into for work that would require her to take off so quickly and without a goodbye.

...

Emily came out ready for work, and Lee took all of her in. She was wearing long, grey dress pants and a black, long sleeve shirt, but she still looked amazing. They hadn't spoken about that morning, and Lee was left wondering what she was thinking about it all. It was driving him crazy.

"Hang on," he said, stopping her.

"What?" she asked.

"You're putting this on today," he said.

"Putting what on?"

He handed her body armor.

"Are you insane?" she asked. "I can't go into work wearing that. They'll see it."

"It's mandatory," Lee said. "Non-negotiable."

"It's butt ugly," she retorted. He bit down his laughter, but a smile still escaped. He couldn't help it.

"I'm serious," he said. "I'll feel better if you have it on."

Emily did not want to wear it at all, but she didn't want him to worry about her.

"Fine," she sighed. Without warning, she pulled off her shirt. Lee was shocked and almost choked at her casualness about it. He was not surprised, however, to see that she had just as fancy undergarments as she did everything else. She put on the armor and then looked at him.

"How does it do up?" she asked. He forced himself to stay focused as he went over and adjusted the straps so that it fit her snugly. It was one of the non-detectable kind that Barney had managed to get. She put her shirt back on and looked in the mirror.

"Can you see it?" she asked, turning to face him.

"No," he shook his head. "That's the point."

"All right then. Let's go to work," she said. She felt strange wearing the armor. She also felt scared. What had made them decide she needed to wear it?

"Why today?" she asked.

"What?"

"Why the armor today?"

"Because after Theron's visit, we want to be prepared."

"I see."

Lee drove her to work in the rental car. They didn't say much to each other on the drive, but they did sneak looks at each other when they thought the other wasn't noticing. Emily felt the heat between them, but the question was, did he? She'd been fairly certain things were going to go farther than just kissing that morning, but now she'd never know thanks to her sister.

"I'll be out here," he said when they reached the front door of her office building.

"Okay," she nodded. As she undid her seat belt, he reached and put his hand on her shoulder. She met his eyes, and he looked like he was going to say something else, but he just squeezed her shoulder instead and released it. She wondered what he wanted to say as she went inside.

...

Lee felt like a chicken. He wanted to talk about what had happened the night before and that morning, but he didn't know how. He was still processing it himself. What did it mean to him? What was happening? He was definitely falling for her the more he thought about it. He felt a little bit guilty now because Lacy had accused him of being with someone else, and he hadn't realized that unconsciously he had been thinking of someone else. He shook Lacy from his mind. They'd only had maybe six dates altogether anyway in their time of dating. It wasn't like it had been very serious.

"Focus, Lee," he told himself. He kept watch on everything and everyone around that building. He wasn't going to let Theron get another shot at Emily ever again.

...

Emily was typing when Miranda screamed. She leaped to her feet and raced into Miranda's office, Mei on her heels.

"Miranda! What's wrong?" Emily asked. Miranda was looking at her computer screen.

"It's all gone," she said, her face even more white than Emily thought it could ever get.

"What's all gone?" Mei asked.

"_Runway_'s money," Miranda whispered.

"W-What?" Emily asked, shocked. "What are you talking about?"

"We're bankrupt," Miranda said, her voice strangled sounding.

"How?" Mei questioned.

"I don't know. I don't know. Get me the finance department. Now!" Miranda barked. Emily skidded away to make the call. She felt shaky. Who would bankrupt _Runway_? And how? Then, it hit her. She was very certain that Louis had something to do with it. After all, he was in a competing magazine business, and he had just been there. Had he gotten her to sign something? She went back to Miranda.

"What?" Miranda snapped.

"Did Louis get you to sign something when he was here?"

"I signed off on some orders. Why?"

"Just wondered," Emily answered. She felt sick. He had done this. She was sure of it.

"Louis is a dear friend of mine. He is not capable of doing something like this," Miranda said, glowering at her. "I also read what I sign, Emily. Do not call me incompetent."

Emily said nothing else as she walked away. She passed her desk and went down to see Toll.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Oh God, Theron is not here again is he? I have not left my desk all day."

Emily did not want to know how he went to the bathroom.

"No, he's not here, but I think he just did something else."

"Like what?"

"_Runway's_ gone bankrupt. Louis was just here, and he got Miranda to sign some order forms. I think he's either gotten her to sign something that's given him all the money, or he has forged her name."

"Shit," Toll said. "I'll tell Barney right now."

"Why would he need more money?" Emily asked. "He's already practically a millionaire from the fashion industry."

"Being a criminal also costs money," Toll answered. "Thanks for letting me know." He pulled out his phone, and Emily debated on whether or not she was going to go back to her desk or to go see Lee. She suddenly really wanted to see him.

...

"What's up?" Lee asked when Emily slid into the passenger seat of the car. She looked shaken, and he was concerned. "What happened?"

"Louis duped Miranda out of all _Runway's_ money. We're bankrupt," she answered.

"What? How?"

"He had her sign some order forms yesterday, but I don't think they were all order forms."

Lee was processing this. Why would Theron do that? What was he up to? Why did he need more money?

"Toll didn't get it either," Emily went on. "He's calling Barney."

"He must be buying something," Lee reasoned. "That's gotta be it, but what?"

"I don't know. Or he's just had a vendetta against Miranda and is taking her down," Emily suggested.

"That will be our second option if he doesn't end up buying something," Lee agreed.

"I should get back, but I just...I wanted to see you," she said, her voice sounding a bit shy now. He looked at her.

"I'm glad you did," he replied. She went a little pink in the cheeks and smiled.

"Okay. Back to the madness," she said, clearing her throat. She got out of the car and headed towards the building. Lee watched her, and that was when he saw a smaller woman come out and head towards Emily. Something about her raised alarm in Lee, and he didn't know why. He got out of the car quickly, and hurried after Emily.

"What's going on now, Mei?" Emily called. "Is she firing everyone left, right, and center?" Her voice died on her lips when she saw Mei pull out a pistol from her bag.

"It's just business," she said. "Theron says hello. He's taken down Miranda, and now you."

Lee was racing as fast as he could towards them, his gun drawn.

"Put the gun down!" he yelled. "Put it down!"

"Gun! There's a gun!" people were shouting now.

Toll heard the yelling, and he looked to see Mei holding the gun at Emily. He leaped from his seat, jumped over the desk, and bolted towards the front door.

"You really shouldn't have gotten involved," Mei said. She pulled the trigger, and Emily felt the bullet hit her chest. She fell backwards from the impact, winded. She heard more shots but didn't see who fired them. She landed in someone's arms, who held her tightly as they crumpled to the ground together.

"Em, it's all right," Lee's voice said. She tried for air, but none came. It was surprisingly painful to get shot even with a vest on. People were screaming and shouting.

"Em, you're all right," Lee said again. He set her on her back and looked down at her, gripping her face with his hand. "You're okay. I promise."

Her air came back in a sudden burst, and she gasped and coughed. Lee put his hand on her chest where the bullet hit. He didn't get any blood on his hands, which was reassuring.

"Where...is she?" she asked.

"Toll shot her right after she shot you. She's dead," Lee answered. "Who was she?"

"Mei...Quan. She was…Miranda's new...second assistant...five months ago," Emily answered. Her breathing was slowly coming back properly at least.

"Theron obviously planted her. He had probably planned this money thing for a while. He needed eyes in the office," Lee reasoned. And when Emily had been seen with him in Paris, Theron had decided to take her out as well.

"You all right?" Toll asked them both. He was going to be questioned by police, he knew. He had a valid reason to shoot Mei, though, so Lee knew he'd be fine.

"Yea, we're good," Lee answered.

"Won't they ask why I'm wearing a vest?" Emily asked.

"Let me worry about that," Lee answered. He helped her sit up, and she winced in pain.

"I just got shot," she said, replaying it in her mind. It all happened in slow motion.

"Welcome to the club," Lee joked. Police showed up now, and Lee prepared for their barrage of questions. Emily held onto his hand tightly the entire time.

...

"It's done," Josh said.

"And Emily?"

"That failed. Quan is dead," Josh answered.

"All right. I guess we have to implement plan B."

"You got it, boss," Josh said, grinning.

* * *

**I hope someone out there is still enjoying this story.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Trigger warning for this chapter.**

* * *

Emily barely registered what was going on after she got shot. Somehow, Lee explained everything away so that they were released quickly. She thought she heard him mention death threats or something to explain why she was wearing the vest. They saw the bullet in it and knew Mei had indeed shot her plus all the witness statements saying they saw Mei shoot her. Toll was called a hero from stopping Mei from shooting anyone else, which they knew wasn't the plan, but the public didn't know that. Emily's body still hurt from the impact of the bullet. She wondered how long that would take to go away. It was a the next day after the whole incident, and she and Lee were in her apartment since she didn't have to go to work.

"Ohhh," she groaned, trying to reach for a glass.

"Here," Lee said, getting it for her.

"I feel like I've been smucked by a train," she complained as she filled it with tap water.

"I remember my first injuries," Lee grinned.

"And dare I ask what they were?"

"Broken arm, shot in the leg, and a concussion," he answered.

"Sounds delightful," she said sarcastically.

"I did not have anyone around to help me," Lee said pointedly, but he was smiling.

"I suppose you survived off of chips and pepperoni sticks," she replied.

"Pretty much," he agreed.

Emily didn't respond as she drank her water. She knew he was teasing her. She was grateful he was there. She had a nightmare last night of Mei shooting her only to find she wasn't wearing a vest after all, and it freaked Emily out. She wished she had the nerve to ask Lee to stay with her like he had that one night, but she was afraid to ask.

"I gotta go meet Barney for a bit," Lee said. "I'll just be across the road. If you need me, you call me."

"Okay," she nodded. He left her sitting on the couch and headed down to the elevator. He passed Steve in the hallway, and something about the look on Steve's face made Lee pause and look back at him for a moment. When Steve went into his own apartment, Lee finally got into the elevator and went down.

...

Emily heard the knock and groaned. Moving around was uncomfortable for her. She got up and made her way to the door.

"Steve," she said, surprised.

"Hey, I saw what happened on the news," he said, coming in. Emily backed up, surprised by his forwardness.

"Yes. I'm okay."

"I don't believe it. I just...I keep thinking that you almost died without knowing."

"Knowing what?" she asked.

"How much I care about you," he answered, putting a hand on her cheek. Emily was very surprised now. So Lee had been right. Steve liked her more than just a friend.

"Oh," she said. The thing was, she didn't like Steve back. He took her off guard by kissing her, and she knew he mistook her shock for consent. He pressed her into the wall, and she tried to push him off.

"Steve," she tried, but he just kept kissing her and roaming with his hands. Emily did her best to get away, but he was persistent. After a moment, he had both his hands on her face, looking at her.

"It's such a shame that I have to kill you," he said calmly.

"What?!"

His hands were on her throat in seconds. Emily tried to scream, but it didn't come out. She kicked, but he was too strong for her. They fell to the floor during their struggle, and he got an even better grip on her. Emily choked. She punched at his elbows and then tried to pull his hands off or at least give herself an inch to breathe.

"This is for Quan," he hissed.

Emily's vision started to go funny. She needed air badly. She couldn't believe she was going out this way, and the last thing she was thinking about was how she didn't tell Lee how she felt. A gun cocked then, and Steve looked up to see Lee standing there pointing it at his face.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Lee said.

"Ah yes. The 'cousin,'" Steve sneered.

"Get up," Lee ordered. Steve reluctantly let Emily go, and she gasped for air. Gunner came in then, having followed Lee after he'd told him something was up with Steve.

"Take him to Barney," Lee instructed after zip tying Steve's arms behind his back.

"With pleasure," Gunner nodded, grabbing Steve's arm and hauling him out. Emily was still on the floor in shock. Lee bent down and gripped her shoulder tightly.

"You okay?" he asked.

She shook her head, a loss for words. She did start to cry, however. That was twice within twelve hours someone had tried to kill her. Her sense of safety was now shattered. Barney hadn't been kidding. Louis Theron would kill her.

Lee picked her up into his arms and sat on the floor, holding her. She gripped him tightly to her, trying to forget the look on Steve's face as he strangled her.

"How long has Steve been in this building?" Lee asked after a while and after Emily had calmed down.

"Five, six months?"

"And Mei was five months you said?"

"Yea."

"Okay. I think Theron placed them here for something."

"Like what?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out."

"What made you come back?" Emily asked. She was sitting back from him a little on the floor now.

"Something about his face wasn't right when he passed me in the hall," Lee answered.

"What do you mean?"

"It just...it was a look I recognized," Lee said, rubbing his neck.

"What look?" Emily was curious.

"Revenge," he answered truthfully, looking at her.

"Oh."

Lee recognized the look of revenge from Barney and from other members of his team at times. He also recognized it from his own face in the mirror once upon a time.

"Who else is going to try to kill me today?" Emily asked, breaking into his thoughts.

"I think we need to move out of here for a bit," he said.

"Shouldn't we look at Steve's apartment first?" she asked. "You know, get some clues?"

"Right," Lee nodded. He helped her to her feet, and she followed him closely. She didn't want him out of her sight anymore. Lee picked the lock on Steve's door and opened it. The apartment was quite tidy. It didn't seem to have any obvious clues. Emily wandered until she found an office.

"Lee," she called. He came in and stopped in his tracks. Photos of faces were covering an entire wall. Most of them were Miranda's and Emily's. There were a few of Lee's added to the mix too.

"He's been watching you for a while," Lee nodded.

"Six months," Emily breathed. She couldn't believe it. She'd been stalked for six months. She shivered.

Then, Lee noticed the photo of Liz. Emily noticed it at the same time.

"He's watching my sister?" she asked, afraid suddenly. Lee saw what else was underneath the photo, and he went to snatch it, but Emily beat him to it.

"CIA?" she asked, holding it in her hands. "What?" She looked at Lee.

"Yea," he nodded.

"You knew?" she questioned.

"She asked me not to say anything."

Emily felt horrified, shocked, betrayed, and angry all at once. All intentions of telling him about her feelings went right out the window. She was mad at him now.

"If Steve found this out, your sister might be in danger," Lee said, recognizing Emily was going to let him have it shortly for not telling her and needing to put the brakes on it. "Do you have her number?"

"Yes," she answered.

"I'll call her."

"Is that where she's gone? To find Louis?" Emily asked.

"Yes."

"Oh my God," Emily moaned, dropping the paper and gripping her face. This was just getting better and better. Lee dialed the number and waited. He got a voicemail.

"Liz," he said. "You've been made. Wherever you are, get out of there. I repeat, Theron knows who you are. Call me as soon as you get this."

Emily watched Lee's face grow worried as he hung up.

"Are we too late?" she asked.

"I don't know," he admitted. He felt sick. This was getting out of control very quickly. "Come on. We gotta get out of here." He'd get Yang to go through the rest of the apartment later. There didn't seem to be anything else there with information about what Theron was doing to Miranda, though. That still puzzled Lee a lot.

"Ow!" he yelped as Emily smacked him hard suddenly in the elevator just before the doors opened in the lobby.

"That's for not telling me about my sister," she answered, stalking ahead of him. He rubbed his arm as he followed. He knew he deserved it.

...

"He ain't talkin'" Gunner said to Barney after spending some quality one on one time with Steve.

"That's too bad," Barney commented. They were both standing in front of Steve at this point. "Maybe he didn't get the memo that we don't care if he dies."

"Do what you want with me," Steve cut in. "I don't care."

Caesar came in with his knife then, and Steve swallowed. Yang was over at his apartment collecting all the information. Toll was at _Runway_ dealing with the aftermath of the shooting. Lee and Emily were holing up in a hotel room since her apartment wasn't exactly safe anymore.

"Sister here is gonna slice you up nice," Caesar commented.

"Be grateful it's not Omya Kaboom," Gunner noted. Steve looked back and forth between them.

"What?" he asked.

"Inside joke," Gunner replied.

"Where is Theron?" Caesar demanded.

"Couldn't tell you if I wanted to. Guy's a ghost," Steve shrugged. Barney held out his phone for him to take.

"Make him appear then," he ordered.

Steve looked at the phone and Barney.

"It doesn't work like that."

"Oh no? I think it can," Barney reasoned. "Call him. Tell him you have Emily."

"I'm supposed to kill her, not capture her," Steve snorted.

"All right then. Tell him you killed her," Barney corrected. "And her bodyguard. Tell him he is in the free and clear." They needed Theron to believe all his loose ends were taken care of in order for him to come out and play.

"I was assigned to take you out as well," Steve told them.

"Oh for God's sake," Barney growled. "The body count is just stacking up here. Fine, tell him we're all dead then."

"He'll want proof."

"Yang," Barney said into his comm.

"Yea?"

"I'm gonna need you to doctor up some photos for us."

"Okay."

"Anything else?" Barney asked Steve.

"Yea," Steve nodded. "I do this for you, and you let me live eh?"

"We'll see," Barney answered. "We'll make contact with Theron once the photos are completed." He turned and left then. Caesar gave Steve one last threatening gesture with his knife before leaving too. Gunner was left watching him. He stood, arms crossed.

"You remind me of a troll," Steve commented.

"I'd rather be a troll than a goat, if you know what I mean," Gunner said back, a smirk growing on his face. This guy was irritating him. He knew he wouldn't feel bad if the guy ended up dead.

...

"Smile," Lee said, aiming his phone at Emily.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Barney needs our faces."

"For what?"

"Some big, organized plan that I haven't been privy to," Lee answered. "I'm sure it's got something to do with Theron."

"All right," she sighed, looking at him.

"Don't actually smile," he said. "You gotta look dead."

"Oh, great," she rolled her eyes. She gave her best death look, and Lee sent it to Barney plus one of himself. Emily picked up Jasper then and sat on the hotel bed. The cat was confused as to what was going on. Emily could feel him shaking, and she felt bad.

"So now what?" she asked Lee as he paced and texted on his phone. She still felt in shock over her near death experience today, not to mention the near death experience the day before. She'd had enough.

"We wait," Lee answered. Barney had finished telling him the plan via text, and he couldn't wait until they lured Theron out and caught him. This would all be over. He looked at Emily then, feeling surprisingly disappointed. It would all be over. He'd never see Emily again.

"What?" she asked, noticing his gaze.

"Nothing," he shook his head. He suddenly knew then that he didn't want to lose Emily from his life, but he didn't know how to keep her in his life if there was no need for him to be in hers.

...

"It's done," Steve said, handing the phone back to Barney, who read and reread the message to make sure it didn't give anything away. He hit send.

"Now we wait," Gunner nodded as Barney watched the phone for a response.


	11. Chapter 11

**Trigger warning for this chapter.**

* * *

A few days later, Emily was ready to go out of her mind from boredom. She could tell Lee was too. The pain was gone from her chest mostly, which she was grateful for. It gave a twinge every now and then, but it wasn't as sharp as before.

"Why haven't we heard anything back yet?" she asked.

"I don't know," Lee answered. He really didn't know. Barney was just as frustrated.

They were sitting side by side on the floor underneath the window. Barney had told them to not go out or be seen anywhere in case Theron was looking for evidence that the pictures were fake. Emily had her head resting against the wall. She hadn't told him, but out of boredom while he was showering, she had peeked in his wallet. She was curious if he had a picture of family in there, and imagine her surprise to find a picture of her in there instead. She had wondered why it was there, but she wasn't angry. She was feeling surprised that he had taken it and kept it. That obviously meant something. She looked at him now, and she wondered how she could bring it up. She decided to go on a different route.

"Does it bother you?" she asked suddenly. It had been on her mind recently too, and she wanted to know.

"What?"

"Killing people."

Lee was quiet for a moment. It was another one of her "out of nowhere" questions that took him off guard. Again, no one had asked him this stuff before.

"I feel it," he said after thinking. "It's not something I take lightly."

"Do you ever feel sorry? Have regrets?"

"I sometimes feel bad and think that maybe some of them didn't have to die," Lee answered. "But...being in the SAS already had me exposed to killing people for the greater good."

"I don't know if I could do it," Emily said. "Take someone's life."

"Let's hope you never have to," Lee commented. Emily didn't say anything else. Being in close quarters with Lee for this long was starting to get to her. Her anger about him keeping her sister's line of work from her had passed. She knew her sister would have threatened his life to keep him from telling Emily. Her sister was very persuasive.

"Toll said _Runway_ is a mess," he said to her after a bit.

"I bet."

"Miranda hasn't called you?"

"No. I'm starting to think she thinks I'm dead," Emily answered.

"That's good for right now," Lee nodded.

"I got into bed with the Devil...what did I expect?" she asked. "I knew she was a piece of work when I started. She's only ever just proved it year after year. I don't think I've ever seen her actually smile a genuine smile, you know? I've seen her fake one lots."

"So what are you gonna do after this is over?" Lee asked, curious. She made a face and shrugged.

"I have no idea," she replied. "You?"

"I imagine I'll be going back to New Orleans," he answered. Emily felt a jolt then. She'd never see him again. She felt anxious about this suddenly.

"Right. I guess that makes sense," she nodded. He chuckled.

"Why wouldn't it?"

"I dunno," she shrugged again, acting nonchalant. She felt embarrassed then. This whole adventure was going to end, she knew that. Lee had just grown on her a lot since the beginning. Well, more than a lot, if she was honest with herself.

"Are you implying that you're actually going to miss me?" Lee asked, teasing. She felt her face flush.

"Maybe," she answered. He looked at her seriously then.

"I'd miss you too," he told her. Emily felt surprised by this.

"Really?"

"Really."

Lee was tempted to reach for her hand at this point, but he didn't know what he was doing. They hadn't talked about their kiss or the night they'd spent in each other's arms or his second kiss since all of this had happened. He didn't know how to bring it up, and he didn't know if he should.

Emily's heart was thumping hard. Here was her opening, and she took it.

"Is that why you have a picture of me in your wallet? To remember me by?" she asked. He froze. She had looked in his wallet? What was with these women in his life? But, to be fair, he had gone through her stuff. He was just as guilty.

"That...that was an accident," he started. "I was looking at it, then Serena was coming into your room, so I had to hide, and it...it got misplaced. I never got the chance to put it back."

"You could have just said yes, you took it to remember me by," she told him. "I wouldn't have cared."

"To be honest," he said. "I...I didn't want to give it back. You're right...I...I liked being able to know it was there to look at after this was over."

Emily was feeling bold for some reason. Lee was looking at her, and she just felt she had to do something, anything, to convey what she was feeling.

"That's sweet," she said. She moved to kiss his cheek then. Lee kept looking at her after she pulled away a little. His feelings for her had grown over their time together, and he still felt her lips on his skin long after she'd pulled back. She was right there, looking at him. He could tell she wanted more. Hell, he wanted more.

"In case you're wondering, it was the best day I'd ever had," she told him. "When that picture was taken."

"Who took it?" he asked. He had been curious to know ever since he found it.

"Liz," she answered. "We both played hooky from our jobs. This was before she started disappearing for long periods of time for her job, you see. We just decided to take the day off, and we went to the beach." Emily got a far away look on her face then, just thinking about it. She missed free days with her sister.

"That does sound like a good day," Lee agreed. She had moved closer to him during this interaction. He'd noticed.

"But somehow, sitting here with you...it almost trumps that," she said quietly. Lee felt his heart literally skip a beat at this. He didn't know what to say. He kept staring at her, and she kept staring at him.

"I wanted to kiss you," he blurted. "Both times that I did. It wasn't a mistake, in case you were thinking it was."

"I know, but it's still good to hear," she admitted. "All I kept thinking about was you when I thought I was dying, and I knew I had to tell you how I felt."

"And what is that?" he asked. She was tracing the inside of his arm where his tattoo was with her finger now.

"I honestly don't know," she answered. "It's all been so confusing. You make me feel things I've never felt, but you also can annoy me so much."

"Right back at you," he countered with a crooked smile. She gave a small laugh, but she was nervous. There was a feeling between them now, and it wasn't going to take much for it to launch.

"Lee?" she whispered, looking at him.

"I'm right here," he answered quietly. He closed the small gap between them and began to kiss her slowly, the fire inside of him igniting even further with each kiss. He eventually pulled her into his lap. She pulled the gun out of the back of his pants and set it on the floor beside them. He gripped her face with one hand while sliding his other hand behind her back. Warning bells were going off in his mind. Barney had advised him against this, but he couldn't help it. This had been building for a while now, and this time there were no interruptions or second thoughts to stop it from happening.

"You're very good at this," she said as he moved so that she was underneath him on the floor.

"You're the best thing that's happened to me in a long time," he said into her skin behind her ear.

"I feel the same way about you," she replied, pressing her face against his.

"I just realized something," he said, pulling back a little.

"What's that?"

"I finally get to see that tattoo," he replied, giving her a coy smile. Emily didn't even try to stop him as he moved to expose it.

"You're not allowed to laugh," she ordered.

"I don't see what's funny about it," he answered, tracing it with his finger the way she had traced his earlier. It was a small, red rose with the word "Beautiful" on it. She looked up at him.

"Really," she said.

"No. There is nothing wrong with reminding yourself that you're beautiful," he told her, kissing the spot lightly before moving back to her face and sinking his lips into hers again. He gripped her waist as he pressed her down into the floor.

"Don't stop," she told him. "Don't stop."

"I won't," he promised.

And he didn't.

...

Barney lifted his head from his arms when the phone finally dinged with a message. He picked it up, squinting at it. Then he almost dropped it. He stood quickly, clearing his throat and finding the guys.

"What's up?" Caesar asked. Yang and Gunner looked at him also. Toll was set to join them the next day after quitting the security guard job. Up and disappearing would look suspicious.

"Theron replied," Barney answered. "He said 'Good job' and sent a photo of his own." He showed them the phone.

"Shit," Caesar said.

"That's not good," Gunner agreed.

"Poor woman," Yang sighed, looking away.

"Anyone else here know that Emily's sister was CIA and after Theron?" Barney asked. They shook their heads no.

"You gonna tell her?" Gunner questioned.

"I have to," Barney answered. "It's the right thing to do."

"We could wait," Yang suggested. "Til we have Theron."

"Let me sit on this," Barney said. "I'll figure out what to do." He went back to his desk chair and looked at the photo of Emily's sister lying dead on the floor. He knew Emily would be devastated. He sat for hours thinking of how and when to tell her.

**The Next Day**

It was morning, and Lee's arm was thrown across her over the covers. Jasper had gone into hiding once everything had started last night. The two of them didn't know what was going to happen to either of them after this, so they acted as though it was their last night together even though it was also their first night together.

"Lee, your phone," Emily said as it started to ring, nudging him.

"Huh?" he grunted, not moving.

"Phone." She pushed him a bit harder.

"All right, all right," he groaned, reaching for it. She wrapped her arms around him, pressing herself into his back as he answered it. She was wearing his t-shirt. He'd put on his pajama pants at some point in the night.

"Yea?" he asked into it. Emily felt him grow tense then. "Are you sure?"

She listened but couldn't hear anything. Was it over?

"Okay. Thanks," Lee said. He hung up and pressed his fingers into his eyes, rubbing hard.

"Lee?" she prompted.

"Theron is going to make his deal. I gotta be ready," Lee said. He felt terribly guilty for not telling her about Liz, but Barney had ordered him not to. He said Emily needed to be clear minded for this. Of course Lee couldn't argue while Emily was right behind him. He did not agree with Barney, but he also knew better than to break orders. Barney would have his head.

"Okay," she said, sounding worried.

"It'll be over before you know it," he promised. He wondered how much she would hate him for keeping the news of her sister's death from her.

...

Louis Theron was grinning as he got ready to set up his deal. Barney and gang were dead. The girl was dead. The annoying CIA agent was dead. He was in the free and clear now.

"Your brother is very good," he told Josh.

"I told you he was."

"Did he say how he found Barney?"

"He followed the bodyguard to where he was hiding."

Louis stroked his chin thoughtfully. It seemed almost too good to be true, but the photos were very convincing.

"Tell him to meet us in New York," Louis said.

"You...you're going back there?" Josh asked.

"The buyer changed his location, and I'm not done with Miranda Priestly."

"I see."

"Don't look so worried," Louis said, clapping Josh's shoulder. "Soon enough we'll be on our way to a nice tropical island."

Josh didn't respond. This was not the plan. They were supposed to go to Italy to do this deal. Why was it New York now? He didn't understand. He also didn't feel right about any of this. He looked at his brother's message with the photos once more. He was missing something, and he was going to find it.

**Hours Later**

Lee hung up the phone with Barney later that evening. According to Steve, the deal was going down on the docks just before midnight. They were going to go surprise Theron. Lee looked over at Emily, who was sitting with her knees pulled tight to her chest on the desk chair. Her feet were pressed into the desk to keep her from falling.

"I'm going to have to go," he said. Barney had told him to leave her in the hotel room. They'd had another conversation about telling Emily about Liz, and Barney stuck to his guns. They would tell her after it was over. Lee still felt terrible about it, though.

"Okay," she nodded.

"You'll be all right here?" he asked. "I'll leave you my gun."

"What if you...what if..." she started but couldn't finish. Lee knew what she meant.

"He's not going to take me out," Lee promised.

"You don't know that," she pointed out.

Lee knew she was right, but he had only been trying to make her feel better. He took her face in his hands, looking down at her. She grabbed his one hand with hers, squeezing it tightly.

"We'll get him," Lee promised.

Emily just nodded. He bent to kiss her, and he briefly wondered if he'd get the chance to ever again. He reluctantly released her and stepped back. Emily watched him set the gun on the desk and walk towards the door. Even Jasper watched, a somber expression on his furry face. When he was gone, Emily began to cry again. She couldn't help but think that she might never see Lee again.

...

Josh waited until Lee had left the hotel. He hadn't believed they were dead from the beginning, and then he'd finally cracked his brother's encrypted code in the message. Josh had warned Louis of this, but Louis went ahead with the deal anyway, much to Josh's frustration. Josh was going to make sure it happened, though. He'd used facial recognition to track down Lee and the girl here. He got out of his SUV and went across to the hotel.

...

Lee kept his breathing level and quiet as they waited. Everyone was in position at the docks. Lee couldn't stop thinking about Emily and whether or not she was still safe. He hadn't wanted to leave her there alone, but Barney insisted they needed all hands on deck and that she would be fine since Theron thought she was dead.

"Here he comes," Toll's voice said. Lee saw Theron himself emerge from his black sedan. A jeep was behind him with what he was selling.

"Wait for the buyer then move in," Barney instructed. "CIA wants the buyer alive, but Theron is fair game."

Lee gripped his gun tightly. After so long of hiding and waiting, he'd finally get his chance to take down this guy. Another SUV showed up in the distance.

"All right. This is it," Barney said. "Go, go, go."

They all moved in carefully.

...

Louis knew it was a trap, thanks to Josh. He'd told the buyer to back off, but he was using this opportunity to finish Barney and his team once and for all. He could feel their eyes on him as he walked towards the SUV. He knew who was inside. He smiled to himself, knowing that Barney would be shocked that he got the upper hand. Josh was waiting for the signal before coming out with the girl. Louis knew Josh hadn't understood the plan until just now. He was annoyed at the lack of faith, but he'd deal with Josh later.

...

"Get ready to move in," Barney said. Gunner and Toll were to grab the buyer. The others were to take care of Theron and his team. They watched Theron walk three quarters of the way towards the SUV before stopping. Then they saw him look around.

"Did you really think I wouldn't figure it out?" he called. Barney froze. He was talking to them. How did he know? He looked at Yang, who was giving him a surprised look back.

"Steve," Yang whispered. It was the only thing they could think of. Somehow Steve had let them know it was a trick. Barney frowned. He had read the message over. What had he missed? He felt his stomach drop as the door to the SUV opened and the driver stepped out, going around to pull someone out of the back. It dropped even further when he saw it was Emily.

...

Emily had been taken off guard completely earlier by this man, who was now hanging onto her arm and aiming a gun at her head. She hadn't even opened the door. He had forced his way in to get her.

"I will kill her," Louis said. "If you make a move."

...

The rage inside of Lee was building to the point of explosion. He had known better than to leave her alone. He had.

"What do we do, boss?" Toll's voice went through their comms.

"Sit tight," came the response. Lee did not want to sit tight. He wanted to get her the hell out of there.

"Barney Ross!" Theron said loudly. "I think it's best we don't play anymore games, huh?"

"What do you want?" Barney called back.

"I want you and your entire team standing before me right now," Theron answered, pointing to the ground in front of him. "We finish this face to face. No more hiding."

"Bad idea," Caesar said.

"Yang, stay behind," Barney ordered. "Everyone else, do as he says."

Lee wanted to argue. If Theron knew about Yang and saw he didn't show with the others, he'd probably kill Emily. He said nothing, though, because you didn't argue with Barney.

...

Louis waited with his hands behind his back. His smile grew wider as Barney stepped out of the shadows with four other men.

"At last we meet," he said to Barney. He gestured for Josh to come closer with the girl, and he obeyed.

"Let her go," Barney said after he stopped in front of Louis. "She has nothing to do with this."

"But you see, she knows too much," Louis argued. "I can't let her go."

"I won't say a word," she started. Josh smacked her hard in the face, stopping her. One of Barney's men was held back by the other. Louis found this interesting. Then again, he'd also been this girl's so called bodyguard. Anyone could figure out what had happened between them after living together for so long.

"So what are you gonna do?" Barney asked. "Kill us all?"

"That's the plan."

"I'd love to see you try," the tall, Swedish man snorted. More men stepped from the shadows then, and Barney could see about 20 bad guys standing before and around them now. Perfect.

"Kill them," Louis ordered. He turned, gesturing to Josh to move with Emily. She tried to make him let go, but he twisted her arm behind her back and shoved her forward.

"Anytime now," Barney said to Yang under his breath. The first shot took out a man. Then another shot went off, and another. Barney and the others ducked for cover as they shot back at the rest of the men. Louis and Josh were running now.

"Don't let him get away!" Barney yelled. Lee was already running after the man who had Emily.

"Get Theron!" Toll shouted to Barney. "We got this!" He, Gunner, and Caesar made mincemeat out of four of the guys within seconds. Barney raced after Theron as his team covered him.

...

Lee grabbed a hold of Josh's neck tightly, yanking him backwards and forcing him around. In doing this, Josh was forced to release Emily.

"Run!" Lee yelled at her. She wasted no time obeying. Lee put all his focus on Josh, and they started to fight. Josh was quick, and he was dirty. Lee dodged kicks and throws that came from nowhere. When Josh pulled a knife, Lee pulled his too. They circled each other, waiting for the right time to strike. Josh went first. Lee blocked and evaded the blade. He was doing well until he heard Emily scream. His reflex was to look for her, and in doing so, Josh took the opportunity to stab him.

"Argh!" Lee shouted. He doubled in pain. Josh sent a kick to his head, and he connected. Lee went down hard, and he was stunned.

"LEE!"

Emily's shriek hit his ears, and he knew he had to get to her somehow. Josh was immediately on top of him, grinning.

"See ya," he said, going to stab him in the heart. A gunshot went off, and Josh's eyes widened as he gasped and fell backwards off of Lee.

"All right?" Toll asked, appearing.

"Yea. Where's Emily?" Lee countered as Toll hauled him to his feet. His knife wound was bleeding, but he didn't care.

"There," Toll pointed. Lee saw Barney standing off to the left with Theron, who had Emily in a tight grip with a gun to her head.

...

Emily was pretty sure she was going to die. She had been sure ever since the first guy had yanked her out of the hotel room. Now, she looked at Barney, who had his gun aimed at them. She knew he did not have a clear shot. She couldn't see Lee anywhere, and she was scared he had been killed after he'd been knocked down. She hadn't been given the chance to see if he had gotten back up.

"Don't follow us," Louis warned. He dragged Emily to the waiting car while Barney watched helplessly. Louis knew he needed more men to finish the job since the ones he had were now lying dead on the ground. Perhaps he had underestimated Barney's team.

"Let her go," Barney ordered.

Louis didn't answer as he shoved her into the backseat and jumped in behind her. The car squealed off.

"Barney!" Lee shouted, running up to him. "What the hell is going on?! Where's Emily?!"

"She's in trouble, Lee," Barney answered, lowering his gun. "But it's gonna be all right. He's gonna lead us to the real reason he's doing all of this."

"I hope you're bloody well right," Lee commented. He felt his hands shaking a little bit. He was very worried for Emily, but he had to trust Barney. This would be over soon.

"You've been hit," Toll noticed, looking at Lee's knife wound.

"Flesh wound," Lee countered.

"Yang, tie it up," Barney instructed. Lee grunted a little as Yang worked to wrap the wound and stop the bleeding.

"Any deeper, and you'd be dead," Yang told him.

"What else is new?" Lee snorted.

"You're good to go," Yang told him after he'd finished. Lee grimaced a little from the pain, but he wasn't going to let one knife wound stop him. He had a war to finish.


	12. Chapter 12

**Trigger warning for this chapter.**

* * *

Yang followed the car with the tracking device he had discreetly planted on it earlier. Lee was pacing. Letting Emily out of his sight was the hardest thing he'd ever done. He knew she'd be scared.

"I still can't figure out the connection with Miranda," Toll said, thinking out loud. "I don't get it."

"It's a personal vendetta," Gunner suggested. "Take her career first, then her life?"

"He's not gonna kill Miranda," Caesar scoffed. Then he looked at everyone else. "Is he?"

"Anything is game now," Toll nodded.

"Focus," Barney's voice interrupted them. "Yang, where are they going?"

"Looks like they're headed for..._Runway_," Toll answered.

"Aw man," Caesar groaned.

"Let's go," Barney instructed. Neither of those women were going to die today, not on is watch.

...

Emily greatly disliked the vice grip on her elbow as they marched into her office. She wondered what they were doing there of all places at this time of night. Louis's man shoved her down into a chair and cuffed her to it. She tried to control her fear as they milled around the office muttering to each other.

"Where is he?" Louis kept asking.

"I'm here, boss," a voice answered. Emily looked to see a very large, beefy man enter with Miranda at the end of his arm.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Miranda shouted. Louis started to laugh.

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough."

Miranda was put in a chair also, but Louis had her tied down instead of cuffed. Emily casually reached into her hair where she had a bobby pin, and carefully pulled one out and hid it in her fingers as she brought her hand down. They weren't too much interested in her in that moment it seemed.

"Louis, what are you doing?" Miranda demanded.

"How did it feel to lose everything you'd earned?" Louis asked as he started pacing. "To see your precious magazine ready to fall?"

Miranda blinked before she put it together.

"The money. You really did take it."

"I did."

"Why?"

"To show you pain," Louis answered, swiveling to face her. "How did it feel?"

"I'm not playing games," Miranda huffed. "If you're going to kill me, then just do it."

"You don't understand," Louis went on. "You, the Devil Woman, have hurt a lot of people in your life."

"It's called doing business," Miranda commented.

"Well, then you can appreciate me doing my business," Louis smiled.

"And what business is that? Killing people for being a bitch?" Miranda asked. Emily almost choked. Miranda admitting she was a bitch was a new one. Maybe she was afraid.

"Sometimes," Louis answered. "You, Miranda Priestly, are going to pay for what you've done to my brother."

"And who is your brother?" Miranda asked impatiently.

"Louis?" a voice called. "Louis, where are you?"

"In here, brother," Louis called. Emily stiffened in shock. It couldn't be...

"Louis, why did you drag me here at this time of night?" Nigel asked, coming into the room and stopping short at the sight before him. His eyes flicked between Emily and Miranda. His face showed shock and disbelief.

"Well?" Louis prompted. "What do you think?"

"What are you doing?" Nigel demanded. "Draining _Runway_ was one thing, but this...this is unacceptable."

"Come on, Nigel," Louis coaxed. "You have to admit you've fantasized about this very moment. This woman has ruined your life over and over and over again. Don't you remember Paris, 2006?"

"Louis, no," Nigel said firmly. "Stop this now."

"You're Nigel's brother?" Miranda spluttered.

"I changed my name, just like you did," Louis told her. She stared at him, surprised. "What? You didn't think I knew that?"

"Louis, let her go," Nigel ordered. "And Emily! My God, what has she done?!"

"She knows too much," Louis shrugged.

"She's a good friend of mine. You will not harm her," Nigel instructed fiercely.

"Nigel, this woman watched you get shot and did nothing to help you," Louis went on, pointing at Miranda. "She's the worst human being on Earth. I gave all of her magazine money to you to start your own business. I'm also giving you the chance to rid the world of someone who will not be missed."

Emily watched Nigel's face. She was worried for a moment that he was going to give in and kill Miranda. Louis had his gun out now and had it outstretched in his hand towards Nigel.

"It will feel so good, brother," Louis said in an almost whisper. "Trust me."

Emily began to work on her handcuff with her pin now since no one was even looking at her.

"Nigel?" Miranda asked, a quiver in her voice as Nigel took the gun gingerly from Louis. Emily worked faster. She was terrified that once Miranda was dead, she would be next, regardless of what Nigel wanted.

...

Barney and the others were stationed on the floor, listening to what was going down. It had finally been put together why Louis had taken all of _Runway's_ money. He had given it to his brother to start his own magazine.

"Okay," Barney said softly. "Toll, you and Gunner go left. Caesar and Yang, go right and get Devil Woman. I'll hit Theron. Lee, you get the girl."

"Got it," Toll nodded.

"Okay," Yang said.

Lee said nothing. He gripped his knife and hoped that he wouldn't screw up. There were about ten guys to take down. They had taken down more before, but there hadn't been two hostages added on top. It could get tricky.

...

"Nigel?" Miranda said again as Nigel stepped closer to her, gun in hand. "Nigel, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She started to cry then. "I...I never meant to keep putting you last. I was going to promote you this year. I swear. Nigel, please don't kill me. Please! I'm sorry!"

Nigel stopped and looked at Louis before looking back at her.

"That's all I ever wanted to hear you say, Miranda," Nigel told her, "was 'I'm sorry.' I can't believe that it took me pointing a gun at you to hear you say it."

Miranda was still crying as she looked at him.

"Let them go now," Nigel ordered Louis, turning to look at him again.

"If you're not man enough to do it," Louis said, pulling out another gun. "Then I am."

Emily finally popped the handcuff open, and she hit the floor just as bullets started to fly. She had seen Barney and the others appear in the shadows. She covered her head with her hands, waiting for it to be over. She shrieked when hands grabbed her.

"Come on!" Lee shouted at her. He kept her head low as they ran out of the office and into the hallway. They ran full speed to an empty office down the hall. Lee knew he had been followed. As soon as they ducked inside the office, he grabbed Emily's arms.

"Hide," he ordered. "Now."

She nodded and hurried to hide underneath the nearest desk. She heard muffled grunts and scuffles as Lee took down the attacker. Emily flinched as she heard the blade hit skin, and the room grew quiet.

"You all right?" he asked, bending down in front of her now.

"Yea," she nodded, crawling out. Lee instantly grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her down as he sent a knife sailing into the next person who entered the room to get them. He calculated there would be eight men left, and they all wouldn't have followed him. He released Emily.

"Stay here."

"Is it safe?" she asked.

"You're safer in here than out there," he answered. He handed her a gun, and she took it gingerly.

"Nigel wasn't going to hurt her," she said. She needed him to know that.

"I know," he nodded.

"You're sure I can't go with you?" she asked.

"Em, I'll be back," he promised. She grabbed his arm then, pulling him to her and kissing him hard. For whatever reason, she had a feeling it might be the last time she got to do it.

"For good luck," she said after. He gave her his crooked smile and squeezed her hand tightly before letting it go and running out of sight. She ducked back down underneath the desk and prayed that no one would come looking for her.

...

"Where's Barney?" Lee asked Caesar as he caught up with them.

"He went after Louis. Where's Emily?"

"Safe," Lee answered. "The other two?"

Caesar gestured, and Lee went around the corner to see Miranda being worked on by Toll. He felt sick at the sight of so much blood.

"I had no idea," Nigel kept saying. "I had no idea. My God, I'm so sorry."

"Hey, man," Gunner said, reaching to put a hand on his shoulder. "It's all right. You didn't know your brother was a maniac."

"He thought he was making it better," Nigel said. "I...I didn't want it, the money. I didn't. I was going to make things right as soon as I could."

"Man, she's going into shock here," Toll said, grunting with effort.

"How long til medics?" Gunner asked. On cue, medics raced into view, and he stepped aside. Toll backed off to let the medics do their thing. Lee wondered if Miranda was going to make it. It didn't look so good.

"I need back up!" Barney's voice shouted into their ears.

"I'm on it," Lee answered, turning to run.

...

Emily knew she should have stayed put, but she couldn't help herself. She held the gun in front of her as she walked, searching. It had been quiet for a while, so she figured it was over. Also, Lee had been gone too long for her liking. She worried something had happened to him. She made her way around the building, hearing shouts suddenly. Emily jumped when Louis stumbled into view bloody and ragged.

"What is this?" Louis asked, catching sight of her. She pointed the gun at him.

"Going to kill me then?" he prompted. "Go ahead. Do it."

Emily's hands shook. Barney and Lee appeared then, and she noticed they were battered and bloody. It seemed that Louis was the last man standing at this point.

"You look an awful lot like your sister," Louis went on. "She begged for her life at first, but in the end, she begged for yours."

"What?" Emily asked, trying to understand what he had just said. Liz was dead?

"You didn't know?" Louis asked, chuckling. "Funny they didn't tell you."

Emily was so confused by what he was saying. Who else knew? Her mind went back to Lee on the phone and getting tense, the way he'd looked at her after. Had he _known_?

"You bastard," she whispered, feeling the rage.

"Go ahead," he urged. "Do it."

"Em, stand down," Lee ordered. She ignored him. Louis had wanted to kill her. He had killed her sister. This was personal. The look he was giving her wasn't helping things either.

"She wants to do it," Louis said, egging her on. "It's in her eyes. Look, she's mad."

Emily was beyond furious. She was very close to pulling the trigger. Barney kept his gun trained on Louis as Lee went over to Emily and put his hand on the gun, lowering it. She looked at him, and he looked at her.

"Don't," he said softly. "He's not worth it."

"I disagree," she countered. "He killed my sister." She watched his face, and it gave away the truth. He had known. She had never felt so betrayed in her life.

"Don't kill out of hate or vengeance," Lee went on. "You will never be yourself again if you do."

Emily knew he was right, but she kept looking at Louis, who was sneering at her now.

"Pathetic," he said. "All of you."

"Keep talking," Barney commented. "You're gonna end up with a bullet in your head."

Lee took the gun from Emily, and she never broke eye contact with him. He knew she knew, and he felt terrible.

"You knew," she whispered accusingly.

"Em," he started, trying to explain. A sudden noise made Barney whip around and Lee look towards the sound as well. Barney shot the armed man who was going to shoot them. Louis took this moment to pull out his hidden gun and aim it at Emily. Lee saw too late, and Emily cried out as the bullet ripped through her. Barney unloaded his gun into Louis, shouting at the top of his lungs in rage.

"Emily! No!" Lee shouted, grabbing her arms as she stumbled backwards, falling with her and catching himself before landing on top of her. "Emily!" He gripped her face tightly with one hand as he began to look for where she had been shot with the other. He found it quickly.

"Lee," she said, sounding afraid. She grabbed his one hand with hers. She knew it wasn't all right. There was so much blood. Emily knew that was a bad sign.

"Emily, hang on," Lee ordered. "Stay with me!" He cursed himself for not making sure she had a vest on when he had left her. Then again, Louis would have removed it from her anyway even if she had.

She tried to say something, anything. Her tongue was too heavy. Her brain was too foggy.

"Emily!"

"Come on, Emily!" Barney's voice shouted now. She felt herself being picked up and carried at this point. "Hang in there, darling."

Then there was nothing.

...

Emily opened her eyes and felt pain. She groaned.

"Emily?" Lee asked, moving forward to grab her hand. He looked at her.

"Where am I?"

"Where it all began," he answered. "The hospital."

"Good cos I thought maybe I died."

"No. You're still here," Lee said, gripping her hand tightly in his. She noticed he had a wrap on one hand and some stitches on his face above his eye.

"Did they admit you?"

"No. I just got some stitches done," he replied. "They say I'm not allowed to lift anything for a while."

"Did you get shot?" she asked.

"No. I did get stabbed, though," he answered. "Ten stitches for that. Four for my brow."

"Ouch."

"I know. Not my first time getting stabbed, though," he told her.

"Right, and not your last."

"No."

"Louis?" she asked, fretting over the answer. If he was still out there...

"Theron is dead. Barney killed him," Lee said quietly. "Steve was handed over to the cops. They found the buyer holed up in a motel room."

"Good. Miranda?"

"Recovering. She almost died," Lee answered.

"Maybe that will help her change her ways."

"Maybe."

She didn't want to think about Miranda. Lee told her Nigel had been so distraught and had promised to fix everything with _Runway_ as soon as possible. The thing was, Emily didn't care. She didn't want to go back there.

Lee knew what was coming next. He could see it in her face.

"Why didn't you tell me about Liz?" she asked. The hurt in her voice was evident.

"Barney told me not to," Lee answered. "He didn't want you to be unable to focus. We were going to tell you once Theron was dealt with."

"You had no right."

"I know," he said, hanging his head. "I'm sorry. I tried to tell him that but..."

"I need you to leave," Emily said, interrupting and taking her hand from his now. Lee stared at her.

"What?"

"Please go," she ordered, not looking at him anymore. Lee felt devastated.

"Em, I'm sorry. If I had it my way, I would have told you..."

"You should have told me anyway," she cut him off. "But you didn't. You kept it from me. I can't trust you now."

"Em..."

A nurse walked in at this point to check on Emily. Lee decided to not fight in front of the nurse, so he just nodded and got to his feet.

"I'll be back later," he said to Emily.

"No," Emily shook her head. "Please don't."

Lee was at a loss for words, and he noticed the nurse was staring at him now.

"Okay," he agreed, his throat feeling tight. He was losing her. He couldn't believe it. He stopped in the doorway to look at her one last time, but she wasn't looking back. He felt sick the whole way down to his car. When he got in, he started beating on the steering wheel out of anger. He had managed to screw up the best thing that had ever happened to him and all because he had listened to Barney's stupid order. He had no idea where to go from there.

...

Emily had asked him to move out his things from her apartment, so he had. She wasn't home from the hospital yet when he did it. After he was finished, he stood in the doorway and found himself feeling incredibly sad. One of the neighbors had Jasper. Caesar had gone back to the hotel to get the cat after everything was over.

Lee still couldn't believe he'd messed up. With a heavy heart, he closed the door behind him and slid the spare key she'd made for him under it. He made his way to where Gunner was waiting in the car. They were to catch up with Barney and head home.

"You liked her," Gunner noted after Lee got in and they started driving.

"Yea, Gunner," Lee replied. "I really did."

They didn't say anything more, and Lee found himself wondering if he'd ever see Emily again.

...

Emily got home to find her apartment back to normal. She picked up Jasper from down the hall, and she held onto her cat for dear life as she sat on her couch and cried. Everything had caught up to her. She'd been shot. Her sister was dead. Lee was gone. Yes, she was still furious at him for not telling her about Liz, but that didn't mean she had stopped caring for him entirely. But, she had asked him to leave, and he was gone.

"Babe?" Serena's voice called behind the door. "Can I come in?"

"Yea," Emily answered. Her friend came to sit beside her, and they both looked at one another.

"You wanna tell me what's been going on?" Serena asked. She had heard about Miranda and what Nigel's brother had tried to do. She had heard Emily had been shot. Serena was putting pieces together slowly.

"I was made a target by Louis in Paris," Emily started. "He was an arms dealer. Lee and Toll...sorry, Chase...were assigned to look after me at work and here.

"His name is Toll?" Serena asked. She hadn't answered his messages since he had just up and left with no goodbye, and she didn't know if she would now. She didn't like not knowing she'd been lied to.

"I guess. I don't know."

"And Lee? I didn't see him."

"No, you didn't. He hid when you were here."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry. I should have told you, but I didn't want to risk you getting hurt," Emily said. These words hit her then as she realized it was kind of what Lee had done for her in regards to Liz. She shook the thought away. She didn't want to give him an excuse.

"It's over now, right?" Serena asked.

"Yes," Emily nodded.

"Well, I'm glad they kept you safe," Serena said, hugging her. Emily started to cry then, and Serena and her rocked each other back and forth for comfort.

...

"What happened?" Barney asked, looking at Lee and seeing his friend sitting there staring at Emily's picture. They were on Barney's plane back to New Orleans.

"She found out I didn't tell her about Liz. She hates me now," Lee answered.

"Oh," Barney said. "I didn't realize she would hate you for that."

"Well, she does."

"Did you two get close?" Barney asked. He knew they had. It was very evident on Lee's face.

"We did."

"When?"

"In the hotel."

"I see."

Lee didn't respond. He didn't care. He was miserable. He knew Toll was too because of Serena. He'd let Lee in on that one before they took off. If anyone understood Lee's pain, it would be Toll. He'd lied about his name and everything to Serena.

"I have a feeling you'll see her again," Barney said, nodding. His cigar was in his fingers, and he took a sip of his beer.

"I doubt it," Lee sighed. A big part of him wished he had just fought harder to stay, to make her realize he hadn't meant to hurt her the way he had. But it was too late.


	13. Chapter 13

Emily spent the next few days in mourning. She went to her sister's funeral and spent time with her parents. She came back to her apartment feeling alone and broken hearted. Losing her sister had left a huge hole inside of her. She hadn't gone to visit Miranda in the hospital at all. She was already looking for a new job. Her phone rang again, and she saw it was Lee for the tenth time. She didn't answer. She couldn't talk to him. She hoped he would get the hint soon.

"Hi, Jasper," she said, picking up her cat. She sat down and held him, and he didn't run away the first chance he got, which she appreciated. She kept thinking about Lee and everything they'd gone through together. She knew he was thinking of her since he was calling her. She hated that she just couldn't forgive him, that she just couldn't move on. The sad part was that she really wanted to.

...

"Still not answering?" Barney asked.

"No," Lee sighed. It was done. He knew it. He sat on his bar stool and felt like crying. Gunner and Caesar were having a good time playing cards. Yang was doing some martial arts practice. Toll was moping around over Serena. Tool was sitting beside him on the one side with Barney on the other.

"She'll come around," Tool said.

"No."

"I met her. Her face lit up just saying your name. She's got it bad for you. This is just a glitch."

"A glitch?" Lee asked.

"Yea. A pause. A wrinkle. It'll iron itself out, and you'll be made up within the week."

"I'm glad you're so positive about it," Lee said sarcastically.

"Someone has to be," Tool pointed out.

Lee had no comment for that.

**Three Weeks Later**

"Am I being stupid?" Emily asked Serena. They were at Serena's place hanging out. Emily didn't like being in her apartment anymore. It reminded her too much of Lee. She had stayed the night, and it was almost lunch.

"You might be overreacting a little," Serena admitted. She was eating ice cream straight from the tub. She didn't even care.

"And you aren't?" Emily asked.

"Hey, my guy lied about his name," Serena said. "That's a biggie."

"And my sister's death being kept from me isn't?" Emily challenged.

"All right, all right," Serena said. "Maybe we're both overreacting."

"I really miss him," Emily lamented. She felt the tears again. She also really missed her sister. Serena reached to pat her leg comfortingly.

"Then why don't you call him?" she suggested.

"I just...I don't know."

"Here's an even crazier thought," Serena started. "Why don't you go find him?"

"What?" Emily asked, laughing a little.

"Yea! I'll go with you and talk to Chase. Toll. Argh! This is hard to get used to," Serena complained.

"You'd go with me?"

"I would. What do you say?"

Emily thought about it. She would rather talk to Lee in person about this anyway. She wouldn't know how it ended unless she started it.

"Okay," she agreed. "Let's go."

...

Lee found himself at Scott's bar that evening. He sat alone and kept thinking about when he'd been there with Emily. He felt so empty.

"Lee?"

He looked up to see Lacy standing in front of him.

"Hey," he said. He was surprised she was even talking to him.

"May I?" she asked, gesturing to the chair across from him. He nodded, and she sat down.

"I figured you'd never speak to me again," Lee commented. Lacy sighed.

"I wasn't going to, but then I realized I had overreacted."

"How so?"

"Scott told me you said that woman was your cousin. I'm sorry I didn't believe you when you said so."

Lee almost laughed out loud. This whole conversation was hysterical.

"He'd asked me if I could get the woman's number for him recently because he liked her, which is why I'm doing this now," Lacy went on. "Or else I would have called you sooner."

"Lace, it's fine," Lee said. "We weren't going to work out anyway."

"Why's that?"

"Just a hunch."

Lacy leaned forward, taking his hand in hers suddenly.

"I really want to try again."

Lee wished someone else was in his body to have this conversation with her. He sure as hell didn't want to do it. Before he said anything, though, Lacy moved in to kiss him.

...

"This place is a bit...grungy," Serena commented as they entered the bar. Emily wanted to check there first for Lee. She'd go to Tool's next.

"It's fine," she said to her friend. She scanned the room. It was full that night.

"Country music?" Serena winced.

"We're just here to find Lee," Emily huffed. "We're not moving in."

"I know, I know."

Emily continued searching until she saw him. When she saw what he was doing, it nearly shattered the remaining pieces of her already broken heart. She stopped walking, and Serena crashed into her.

"Whoa, hey," she said. "You all right?"

She looked to see a man and a woman kissing.

"Oh, is that him?!"

"Yes," Emily whispered. Serena didn't hear over the music, but she had put it together anyway.

"Asshole," she said. "Come on, Em. We don't need him." She moved to pull Emily away.

...

"No," Lee said, pushing Lacy back. "I can't."

"Why not?" Lacy asked, confused.

"I just...there's..." he began. That's when he saw her. He blinked, feeling as though he was hallucinating. Then he realized from her facial expression what she had just seen.

"No," he said. "No, no, no. No!"

He jumped to his feet as Emily darted into the crowd with Serena.

"Lee?" Lacy called.

"Emily!" he shouted. He didn't care what Lacy thought. He heard Lacy shout his name again, but he kept pushing through the crowd. He got outside only to find Emily getting into a cab.

"Emily!" he shouted again. She ignored him. He ran for his bike.

"Lee?!" Lacy called, appearing outside. "What's going on? Who's Emily?"

"The woman I'm in love with," Lee answered, putting his helmet on and starting his bike. He didn't even stop to see Lacy's reaction, which was one of shock. All he cared about was finding Emily.

...

"I don't believe it!" Emily was exclaiming. "He went back to her!"

"Scum bag," Serena chimed in.

"Here I thought he actually cared about me," she lamented. She began to cry. Serena put her arm around her and tried to comfort her.

"We'll get you back to the hotel and pampered," she promised.

"No," Emily said, sitting upright again. "You have to talk to Toll. Things might be messed up for good with me, but you still have a chance."

"I don't want to leave you..."

"I'll be fine. I promise," Emily said. "Go find him." She handed Serena the address for Tool. She figured he'd be there or Tool would at least know where to find him.

"I'm sorry it didn't work out," Serena told her. Emily gave a weak smile.

"At least now I know, right?"

Serena patted her leg gently. Then they were at their hotel, and Emily got out.

"Good luck!" she called to Serena, who waved back. Emily went inside, not hearing the bike coming in at full speed.

...

Tool and Barney both looked when a model walked into the place.

"Holy shit," Tool breathed. "Am I dreaming?"

Barney reached to cuff him upside the head.

"She still there?" he asked after.

"Uh huh," Tool nodded.

"Then you're not dreaming."

"You see her too, right?"

"Of course I do, genius," Barney scoffed. He turned to the woman then. "Hi. What can I help you with?"

"I'm looking for a...Toll?" she asked.

"Hang on," Barney said. "Oye! Toll!"

"What?" Toll called back.

"Visitor!"

Barney smiled at the woman, who smiled back.

"You got any friends?" Tool asked her. Barney cuffed him again for being tactless. Toll emerged then, and he stopped short.

"Serena," he said, shocked.

"Gorgeous name," Tool commented. "I bet your last name is even prettier." He ducked Barney's hand this time.

"Hi," Serena said. "Can we talk?"

"Yea," Toll nodded. He led her to a quieter room.

"Shame we can't hear them," Barney said.

Tool reached to switch on the microphone he had installed in that particular room.

"I'm just kidding! Turn it off," Barney ordered.

"If you say so," Tool sighed, doing so.

"That's creepy, man," Barney pointed out.

"Hey, if someone is gonna break in here, I would like to know what they were saying," Tool argued. Barney didn't respond. He hoped Toll was getting the chance to explain himself.

...

Lee ripped off his helmet and stuck it on the bike's handlebar before racing into the hotel. He caught sight of Emily stepping into the elevator and knew he couldn't catch it. He hit he stairs, running hard. He had no idea what floor she was getting off on, which could pose a problem. He raced around and checked out each floor, but he didn't see her. He had to talk to her. He couldn't let her think that Lacy kissing him meant anything. He hadn't initiated it. He hadn't reciprocated. He cursed himself for not seeing that Lacy would do that to begin with, but how was he to know that Emily had come looking for him at the exact same time?

"Shit," he said. Then he knew what he had to do. He surged forward and started banging on doors, calling her name. He got cursed at and yelled at by the people he was bothering. He went down the hall, and he couldn't help but think back to when they'd been there last and playing pranks.

"Emily!" he shouted. He was on another floor now. More cursing and people telling him off. He didn't care. He was going to find her.

...

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again," Toll said, looking at Serena. She crossed her arms.

"Well, since you took off without saying goodbye, you're lucky I'm even standing here."

"Why are you here?" Toll asked.

"Emily convinced me to give you a second chance. She told me everything."

"I'm sorry," Toll said quickly. "I couldn't blow my cover. I was protecting Emily."

"I know that now," Serena replied impatiently. "I appreciate you keeping her safe, but I still got hurt in the process."

"And I'm so sorry about that. But you have to know that it was real," Toll told her. "With you. Everything."

"You're not just saying that?" she asked.

"No," he shook his head. "I'm dead serious."

Serena took this in for a moment before reaching to pull him into her arms to kiss him soundly.

...

Emily heard him shouting, and she opened her hotel door and peeked out into the hall.

"Sorry," he was saying to someone whose door he had just knocked on.

Was he seriously banging on everyone's door until he found her? Emily was surprised. Then she flashed back to him and Lacy kissing, and she felt that stab again. Did he think he could fool her that easily? She was about to go back into her room when he saw her. She hadn't gone back inside fast enough, but she did now and leaned against the door, wondering how much it would take for him to leave her alone.

"Em," he said on cue, right outside her door. "I know you're in there. Can you let me explain?"

She was silent. What was there to explain? He was back with Lacy. He was over her. She shouldn't be so surprised.

"Come on, Em," he said. "I'm not leaving until we talk."

Emily figured he was true to his word, so she decided to just get it over with. She yanked open the door, and he was standing there looking at her.

"I'm only doing this to spare everyone on this floor from hearing you shout at me through a door," she said.

"I'll take it," he said, stepping inside. He stood in front of her. She kept her arms crossed.

"I see you moved on," she commented.

"No," he shook his head vehemently. "No, I did not."

"Oh, so that wasn't Lacy you were kissing just now?" she asked.

"She kissed me. I did not ask for it, and I did not initiate it. I certainly did not reciprocate," he explained. "She found me there and thought she had made a mistake about you, that you really were my cousin, and she thought we could just pick up where we left off. I was not getting back together with her."

"Sounds like a pretty good story," Emily said.

"It's the truth," he told her strongly.

She didn't know what else to say. He decided to keep talking.

"You're here, Em," he said. "That tells me something."

"It was a mistake," she cut him off.

"No, it wasn't. This would be a completely different scenario if Lacy hadn't kissed me in that moment."

"I'm still angry that you didn't tell me about Liz."

"I don't know how many times I can apologize for that. I'd do it differently if I could," he said. "We did it to keep you safe. That's all. I swear."

Emily knew he was telling the truth. She just felt afraid suddenly, and she didn't know why.

"What did you come here for?" he pressed. He dared to take a step closer to her.

"I don't know. I can't do this," she said, shaking her head.

"Do what?"

"Nothing," she said. "Nevermind."

"No," he said back. "Not nothing. Em, what is it?"

"You're telling me the truth about Lacy?" she countered.

"Yes. I swear," he answered. He was right in front of her now, and she felt dizzy at his closeness. She wanted to let go of her anger. She wanted to trust him again. She wanted a lot of things.

"I'm sorry I got so angry," she said to him. "I was just so hurt."

"Rightly so," he agreed.

"I really missed you," she admitted.

"I missed you too," he said. He moved to tuck her hair behind her ear before daring to rest his hand on her cheek.

"Promise me you won't ever lie or keep things from me again?" she asked.

"I promise," he nodded.

"Okay," she nodded back. He touched his forehead to hers, his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm in love with you," he confessed. Emily was surprised. He loved her? She never had anyone except her family tell her that before.

"You are?" she asked. He nodded. "Since when?"

"For a while now," he answered. "I think maybe since our first trip out here." He had realized that's what it was he had been feeling for Emily. Love.

"I think I'm in love with you too," she said. She knew she was. She'd cared about him for a long time.

"Yea?" he asked.

"Yea," she smiled. She wrapped her arms around him as he kissed her, and she felt very glad that she had come after all.


	14. Chapter 14

"Em! Open the damn door!" Serena shouted, banging on the door. Emily sat upright in bed from the noise. It was blatantly morning, and she felt as though she'd been in a coma.

"Tell her to go away," Lee said, muffled. She turned to look at him lying face down in the pillow with one arm thrown over his head. His eyes were still closed.

"I need to change!" Serena called. "Come on!"

Emily looked at Lee, who finally cracked an eye open to look back at her.

"I am not hiding under the bed again," he said adamantly. She giggled.

"Fine," she answered, taking the blanket and throwing it over his head. It was more to protect him from Serena's barrage of questions and comments than hiding the fact he was there. Then she padded over to the door, tying her robe up tight.

"Why is the door bolted?" Serena asked crossly as she came inside.

"Get your things and then please go," Emily said. Serena went to comment when she caught sight of Lee's shoes and clothes on the floor beside the bed.

"Oh," she said. "_Oh_. I'm sorry."

"Hurry up," Emily ordered.

"Yup. Hurrying," Serena nodded, rushing to grab her whole bag and rush back to the door.

"Aren't you glad we took this trip?" she said, half out the door. Emily shoved her out with a smile, and Serena laughed as the door got shut in her face and bolted again. She practically skipped back to join Lee, who by now had emerged from under the blanket and was grinning.

"Her idea, huh?" he asked.

"Maybe," Emily answered, curling up into him.

"I guess I can say she doesn't owe me one anymore," Lee mused.

"Why did she owe you one?"

"For making me spend hours hiding in your room."

"But...that was me who made you do that, not her," Emily pointed out, confused.

"Oh, yes, that's right," he said, feigning surprise. Emily realized he'd been messing with her and gave him a small shove. "Then I think you still owe me one."

"I can cash that in now if you'd like," she offered.

"Oh no," he shook his head. "No, I've got something in else in mind entirely."

Emily had a suspicion that she knew what he was gonna do.

...

"All right, all right," Caesar was saying, rubbing his hands together. "Let's destroy this."

"It's food, Caesar, not an armed guy," Barney snorted.

"I was talking about my appetite," Caesar replied.

"I don't see how that's better," Barney said. Gunner guffawed while Yang grinned.

"Can you just let me enjoy my chicken wings?" Caesar asked, annoyed. They were in Scott's bar, and Emily was sitting on Lee's lap while Serena and Toll were doing some sort of dance by the jukebox.

"You forgot something," Barney said, picking up a napkin, opening it up, and stuffing it into Caesar's shirt as a bib. Caesar raised a brow at him.

"Thanks, Mom," he said sarcastically.

"Is it always like this?" Emily asked Lee in his ear.

"Yup," he answered. "At least Tool's not asking for a knife toss." Tool was in fact chatting up one of the waitresses as he sipped his beer.

"I have to admit, I never pictured myself hanging around a gang of mercenaries," she said. He squeezed her side in response, smiling.

"Damn, man," Barney commented, still watching Caesar. "Take a breath will ya?"

"He's a machine," Gunner noted as Caesar inhaled his food.

"You're damn right I am," Caesar said, his mouth full.

"His mouth always faster than his legs," Yang smirked. Caesar threw a bare chicken wing bone at his head, and he ducked, narrowly missing getting hit by it.

"I'm faster than Gunner at least," he commented.

"I already told you, I don't need to be fast when my aim is better," Gunner started.

"Oh no..." Caesar started, pointing a chicken wing at him furiously.

"I will shoot you if you start that fight again," Barney warned, his finger in Caesar's face now.

"Fine," Caesar grumbled, dropping it and going back to devouring his wings.

Lee stiffened when he saw Lacy come into the bar. She wasn't going to keep at him was she? His heart sank when she approached them. Barney watched, interested.

"So, she wasn't your cousin," Lacy said.

"No," Lee shook his head. Emily rested her head on Lee's shoulder, staring at Lacy. Her message was clear: back off. Lacy narrowed her eyes.

"So you did lie," she said angrily.

"About the cousin part, yea. I was not lying when I said I didn't cheat on you," Lee explained.

"Well, that's a huge comfort," Lacy said sarcastically.

"What do you want me to do? I wasn't the one who decided to try again. I told you it's over."

"You really love her?" Lacy asked.

"I do," Lee nodded. Lacy looked like she wanted to freak out, but she kept it together. After all, she had been the one to send him on his way.

"Well, best of luck to you," she told Emily before turning to stalk off, her head up high.

"Wow," Yang said.

"Jealous," Gunner commented.

"You're better off, man," Barney said. Caesar was still busy eating and didn't share his thoughts.

"EMILY!" Serena shouted over the loud music. "It's our song, babe! Come on!"

"Oh, no," Emily shook her head.

"Why not?" Lee asked.

"I don't dance in front of people," she answered. He got a bit of a twinkle in his eye, and she just knew what he was going to say next.

"Your favor to me can be that," he said.

"No," she replied. "Absolutely not." How had she known he would make her do something embarrassing as her favor to him?

"You made me do things I didn't want to do the last time we were here," he pointed out. "Remember?"

"That's because you lost..."

"And this is because you stuffed me in your room for hours with your cat. Same thing," he finished. Emily squirmed. She did not want to do this, but she knew he had a point. She'd make him do it.

"You suck," she told him.

"I know," he grinned. He pushed her off his lap, and she made her way towards Serena. She passed Toll on his way back.

"Damn," he said, sitting beside Lee and out of breath.

"Getting old sucks, eh?" Barney snickered.

"Oh, what is happening?" Caesar asked, catching sight of Emily and Serena breaking into some kind of dance routine. Lee started to laugh out loud. Barney clapped and cheered them on. Even Tool stopped talking to his waitress to watch, an amused expression on his face.

"This is the best night of my life," Gunner commented as Emily and Serena banged their hips together at one point.

"I agree," Yang nodded.

Emily felt super embarrassed at the start, but she was ignoring everyone now and just having fun with her friend, Serena. The two of them had done this routine so many times that it was ingrained in their memory forever.

"Are you happy?" Serena called as they faced each other. She was laughing, and Emily couldn't help but laugh too.

"Yes," she answered. "I am."

"Good!" Serena beamed. They finished with the song, and Emily was going to return to her seat when she turned to find Lee standing right behind her.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he pulled her into position.

"What's it look like I'm doing?" he countered as the next song started. It was slower, and Emily felt shy suddenly. He was going to slow dance with her in front of his gang and everyone. She blushed and ducked her head.

"No one is even watching," he said in her ear, noticing. She turned her face to look, and it was true. Everyone was busy talking to each other, and no one else in the bar was interested. She felt herself start to relax.

"I didn't know you knew how to dance," she said, looking at him.

"I have a few surprises up my sleeve," he replied. "But you are going to have to show me that routine again later."

"I think you'll just have to wait for next time that song comes on and Serena is around," Emily said.

"Oh no," he shook his head.

"Oh yes," she argued, but she was still laughing. Lee held her close, and she felt so at home with him. It made her decision about her future so much easier. And for a moment, the pain of losing her sister wasn't as sharp. She knew it would only get better from here.

...

Lee was curled behind Emily in his bed at his apartment. There was no need for the hotel room anymore since both she and Serena had places to go.

"What are you thinking?" she asked. She was playing with his fingers in hers.

"When do you have to go back to New York?" he inquired.

"Well, since I'm currently unemployed, I technically don't have to be back ever again, but I do have Jasper to think about," Emily answered.

"I see."

She turned so that she was facing him now. It was difficult to see him in the dark, but she could imagine what his face looked like. She knew there would be worry there about when he'd see her again.

"I think Jasper would be okay with New Orleans," she said casually.

"He would, huh," Lee replied. He felt his heart skip a little. Was she telling him she was moving here?

"Yes. I mean, he kind of has to go where I go, right? He might be miffed for a bit, but he'll get over it."

"So what are you saying?" he asked.

"I'm going to leave New York," she told him. "I want to be with you."

"I'm at a loss for words," he admitted.

"For once," she teased. He reached to pinch her in return, making her give a small shriek and wrestle with him for a moment until he kissed her.

"You're serious?" he asked after a moment. Her face was pressed into his neck.

"Mmhmm," she answered. "Is that okay?"

"That's more than okay," he replied. "I'd love you to move here."

"I just think it's time for a change from the city," she went on. "For a little while anyway."

Lee had been contemplating moving to New York, and maybe he would someday if she wanted to go back. They'd talk about it then.

"We can go wherever you like," he said. "As long as I'm with you, I don't care."

Emily moved to kiss him again, and then there was no more talking.

**A Week Later**

"Last box," Emily said, nudging it with her foot towards Lee, who picked it up. They were driving back to New Orleans in the rented mover's truck. Toll was visiting Serena, and he had helped load the truck. They were down there waiting.

"You're sure you still want to do this?" Lee asked.

"Oh no, Lee, I'm just packing all my stuff up to drive across the country for the hell of it," Emily answered, giving him a look.

"Don't say it," he started.

"Here's your sign," she finished, smirking.

"I knew I shouldn't have introduced you to Mr. Engvall," Lee sighed.

"You're just sore because I'm better at it than you are," she smiled. She caught Jasper as he went to bolt out the door and hugged him.

"I'll give you a moment," Lee said, knowing she wanted to say goodbye to her apartment. He gave her a quick kiss before leaving with the box, and Emily stood there with Jasper, who was purring.

"Well, Jasper," she said. "It's time for a new chapter in our lives. I hope you're okay with that."

The cat did not respond, but Emily knew Jasper would be fine anywhere. He was a cat. She felt bad putting him into his carrier, but she didn't want to lose him. He protested, and she knew he was going to snub her for a while when she finally let him out.

"Ready?" Lee asked when she joined them.

"Yes," she nodded.

"Good luck," Serena said, hugging her.

"You could come too," Emily suggested.

"Maybe one day," Serena answered. She stepped back, and Toll put his arm around her. They were going to do the long distance thing for now.

"Drive safe," he offered.

"Thanks," Lee replied. He helped Emily climb into the truck and passed Jasper in his carrier to her. When he got into the driver's seat, he turned to look at her.

"Last chance to run," he said.

"I don't plan on ever running from you," she replied.

"All right," he smiled, starting the truck and putting it into gear. She reached for his hand as they started moving, and she watched her old life slowly disappear behind her as they drove. She smiled. Who knew that strangers in a hospital could end up in a love story. She felt lucky, and she knew Lee felt the same way. Their journey together was beginning. The future looked good.

**The End**

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